


A Confluence of Stars

by Vesperchan



Series: Conflux [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Adventure, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Sakura, Characters make their own angst and I add to it, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, King and Lionheart, Magic, Monsters, Multi, Mutual Pining, OT3, Polish Mythology, Romance, Slavic mythology, Slow Burn, Sniper - Freeform, Stories are Important, War, Witcher - Freeform, WitcherSakura, alternative universe, but not as much, so are guns, you know the good stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2019-09-13 11:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 98,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16891803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: With the war over between two princedoms, Sakura, a sniper, returns home to celebrate Confluence with her grandmother, the local Story Keeper. She had expected it to be nothing more than just another celebration when the star rivers overlapped and the poor people partied. But, along with the rest of the world, Sakura soon realizes that Confluence did more than just give people a reason to celebrate. A wicked new world filled with monsters and magic straight from Baba's tales spills into theirs, and Sakura is forced to turn to her rifle and her stories to make sense of it.





	1. Chapter 1

**A Confluence of Stars**

 

* * *

_"The old world is dying away, and the new world struggles to come forth: now is the time of monsters."  
— Antonio Gramsci_

* * *

The scar on the top of her rifle where the scope should have sat looked more white than bone as she leveled herself on the edge of the cliff. Her uniform was birch colored, like the world around her, and under the white wolf hide she was practically a part of the frozen earth.

Sakura stared down the barrel of her gun to the world below, where nothing but white, white and more white swallowed up her sight. It was almost too bright to look at without tinted glasses, but if she wanted to see as far as she needed, she couldn't let anything hinder that.

In the valley below the first of the faces began to appear. Dark blue uniforms the color of an early night marched with a synchronicity her own unit lacked. The unit consisted of boys and men with waxed mustaches and trimmed haircuts that belied their savagery.

At the end of the procession a pair of men in pale blue uniforms rode together. One bent towards the other, speaking behind a gloved hand. A third figure in powdery blue, a woman, watched them from behind with extra medals on her chest.

Sakura watched them pass.

The last two figures on horses didn't wear uniforms, but they had up until yesterday. Last she saw the couple swaddled in rich furs, they had been standing in birch colors and swearing allegiance to a lie.

Sakura flipped the bolt of her rifle up and then pulled back enough to open the chamber for a clip of six gleaming cartridges, each one fashioned to pierce bone and metal. She pushed the clip down against the spring's resistance, feeling it fit into place before using the bolt to slide the first one forward.

She righted herself in the shallow snow once more, staring down her iron sights with both eyes peeled open. The woman laughed at her lover's joke and Sakura saw it all with impossible clarity.

Sakura stopped her breath, holding her life in her lungs for a moment before the valley cracked with her thunder.

The reaction was instant and she hurried to load the next round into the chamber, pulling the bolt back to let the spring push up her next cartridge. It was a ritual her body knew better than her mind by this point.

The male lover screamed until he couldn't anymore. The valley echoed a second time with Sakura's shot. The soldiers began to take cover and roll out their own rifles before she could load the third shot. She saw them searching for her, scanning the ridges for the gleam caught in a scope, but all she had were iron sights and eyes too wide with what little magic was left in the world.

She held her breath and remembered what it felt like to be an avatar of death. One more of the pale blue uniforms bled scarlet as the officer fell off his horse to land in the snow.

Shots rang out wide, blindly shooting at the cliff face with no real idea of where she might be hiding. Some of them hit close, but it wasn't close enough to make her think or even make her believe they had an idea of where she was.

She had six shots in a clip, but she only wanted the other two officers in pale blue. She had plenty.

"Four," she breathed onto the side of her rifle before holding her breath to still the edges of her body.

The fourth crack of thunder was followed by the female officer's hand at her heart, trying to push back in all the blood. Soldiers were running to help her but the other one in pale blue was up and running into the woods; even from so far away she could hear the screams to retreat.

It was poor form to kill a retreating enemy, but they were losing this war in their own damn country so poor form could go to the castles where they waxed their mustaches.

Sakura held her breath, pulled back and repeated the ritual. The air roared like a panther with her kill. The man staggered with his hands at his throat, rivers of red seeping through the cracks of his fingers before he fell face first into the snow.

She had one round to spare as she scooted backwards from the cliff's edge, work finished.

* * *

Chapter 1

Part 1

* * *

The cart shook as it dipped into the road's rut. Sakura's head slipped off the side of her rifle and hit the wagon's side with a loud enough  _thunk_  to draw attention. Across from her, Yugito Nii looked up from the bread roll she had been chewing through. She made a face and then continued eating.

Sakura cursed and rubbed the part of her head that throbbed. "How long did I nod off for?"

"Some hours I would say," Yugito answered. She didn't glance up from her bread again.

Yugito Nii hadn't bothered to let the long twin braids of her corn yellow hair down from where they coiled at the base of her nape, nor had she bothered to discard the navy blue jacket all Niebieski soldiers worn for a uniform. It had been months since the war ended, but she still dressed like it was a memory away.

Sakura yawned. Her jaw ached from sleeping on it wrong, but she ignored it. Sleep felt like it was still caught in the corners of her lashes, hanging just out of reach.

When Sakura stood the world around her swam for a moment before righting itself for her. The sway of the cart didn't help her balance much, but she made her way towards the edge to peer out from under the hanging tarp. With the sun so high up she had to squint to see anything in detail, but there was definitely something familiar about the trees.

"Where are we, did the driver say?" Sakura asked without looking back.

Yugito pushed the last of her bread into her mouth and swallowed what was already chewed. "We're almost there. He said in less than half an hour's time we'd be in the village so sit back down, you're making the cart sway."

"The cart sways on its own."

"But you make it sway  _more_ ," Yugito grumbled. Her dark blue eyes narrowed with annoyance.

Bracing against the tarp frames, Sakura made her way back to where she had been sitting previously and lowered herself back down.

She reached for her rifle and turned it over so the carvings in the wooden stock caught the light. Sakura ran her bare hand over the designs, feeling the sandpapered edges and the rougher bits from both her skill and inexperience. It had taken her the entire war to finish carving her stories into her gun like protective totems to watch over her, and she could tell by how well they were done how old each carving was.

Some of them felt like they belonged to an entirely different person. She had been more of a girl before the Mad Wolf, the Firebird, and the Leshy each found a place in the wood of her rifle. Now she felt like something else, less a girl and more a storm trapped in the body of a girl. Girls didn't kill nearly as well as she had.

Sakura looked up to where Yugito sat with her back against the russet sacks. She was from the North, where the girls with corn yellow hair and eyes as fine as sky made their fathers proud with a uniform instead of a husband.

Yugito had done well for herself during her military career, well enough that she should have been able to retire to some type of luxury living in the newly conquered lands of the Niebieski principality. She should have been able to do whatever she wanted but she was in the back of a potato cart with a  _western_  sniper on her way to a no name mountain village to celebrate midnight Confluence.

"How much do you know about Confluence?" Sakura asked, suddenly curious.

"I know enough," Yugito answered in a tired tone without opening her eyes. She had folded her arms across her chest and leaned back into the potato sacks. "It's a celestial event that happens once every century or so where the star rivers cross for a night."

"Every one hundred and twenty five years," Sakura corrected. "And it's a complete overlap. The star rivers cross partially much more often."

Yugito cracked a single eye open then narrowed it promptly. Her brows were fair and slender, perfect for arching in condescension but Sakura didn't flinch. It had been a while since the last time Yugito had been able to intimidate her.

"Fine…" Yugito drawled, letting her eye fall shut again. "Every one hundred and twenty five years the star rivers overlap for a night. I'm sure plenty of people in the empire are eager to observe it, but we don't worship the stars or the old gods so there's no use in observing the day as a celebration."

The cart dipped again into another hole in the road but Sakura was awake to catch herself before she hit her head again. Outside the sun burned a little lower in the sky, peeking into the cracks between the tarp flaps.

"It's not about worship," Sakura said. "But there are traditions we carry on even if the belief has run out. I'm not sure what those traditions actually are, but my grandmother would know."

Yugito didn't say anything and didn't open her eyes, giving off no indication that she meant to continue the conversation, and that wasn't unusual. Yugito wasn't very talkative to begin with. It had been a quiet, uncomfortable trip from the blue capital all the way up the Boneridge Mountains.

"Did I heard one of you mention something about the Conflux?" the cart driver called back, leaning backwards to separate the tarp that divided them.

"Confluence, actually, but I've heard others call it differently. Are you planning on observing it yourself, sir?" Sakura asked.

The older trader shook his head and started to ease back into his seat. "Not myself, no, but I remember my father talking about it when he was a boy and it happened in his time, rest his ghost. If there is one in the village you can talk to the story keeper about any Conflux business you might have. You know of one?"

"That would be my grandmother. She's the Story Keeper."

Sakura felt Yugito's attention suddenly sharpen. When she turned to look over Yugito's eyes were open and wide enough to see Sakura anew.

"You didn't mention that," Yugito said.

"Does that change anything? You want to leave me be and finally split up? I won't be alone so you won't feel the need to watch me anymore."

The driver glanced between the two girls, squinting at either of their faces before making a low humming sound that seemed to imply thinking. "I thought you two might have been sisters, but nah, neither you look much like the other there."

"No, we're not related. She just insisted on following me home for the fun of it," Sakura explained with only a thin layer of sarcasm to flavor the words. "I couldn't shake her if I tried."

The driver laughed, straightening back up so that the flap fell back down between then, but his voice still called back to the pair of them. "It's nice to see such faithful friends."

It made Sakura look back over at Yugito again, because that was the odd thing; they weren't friends. They hadn't even been allies during the war. Sakura had been a contracted soldier for Brzoza, the Birch Principality and had tried to, unsuccessfully, push back the Blue Principality, Niebieski. Yugito had been a highly dedicated military officer in Niebieski's army. The two shouldn't have even known each other.

Sakura caught Yugito's eye and flinched when the older girl sat up and moved across the space between them to touch at a bruise forming where Sakura had hit her head upon waking. The blonde drew her thumb across the skin and it came away red from a tiny cut.

Sakura cursed and reached up to wipe at the cut herself. It wasn't anything major, and was far from the worse she had suffered when in uniform, but Yugito was making a fuss about it.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Sakura mumbled. Absently she wiped again, catching even more blood.

"That's not how you want to appear before your family for the first time in four years, is it?" Yugito said. She pulled away and grabbed for a white handkerchief lacking personal embroidery or initials. With a little bit of water from the canteen she had wet it and offered it to Sakura.

Sakura looked at the handkerchief and then the woman, before glancing back down at the handkerchief again. Hesitantly, she moved the hand off the cut on her forehead to take the offering. "Thanks."

Yugito closed her eyes and settled back into the stack of potato sacks. "Just don't die on me."

Sakura suspected the sentiment didn't run much deeper than that. Invisible as vice and as unseen as virtue, there was a thread more compelling than death that tied them together. Once upon a time Sakura had caught Yugito in her sights, but not fired. Once upon a time Sakura burned with a consuming fever Yugito knew how to tame. Enemies that should have killed each other on sight but did the opposite meant the girls were now strange things to each other.

In Sakura's mind the two of them were even. Sakura had spared Yugito's life once, and in turn the blonde had saved Sakura's. That should have been the end of it, but Yugito refused to let them part like that.

When asked the response was always some variation of the same sentiment,  _"I'm responsible for your life now."_

Little later the road grew smooth and the first few painted houses of the village came into view. There were plenty of people too, considering how out of the way it was for Chmury, named after the low hanging clouds it seemed to be in love with. The things that made it inconvenient to travelers also made the village safe, and people lived like they believed it.

Sakura pressed some money to the driver and then hopped out the back with Yugito trailing along behind her. The pair of them squinted into the heavy sun.

"This place looks untouched," Yugito breathed, scanning around them with a hand resting atop the hilt of her saber.

"It mostly was. Come on, my grandmother lives further up on the cliff ledges. Weird old women do that."

Sakura began to walk but then paused, catching sight of her reflection in a shop window. She looked far too unusual in slim military trousers, boots, and a navy blazer. When she had worn a uniform it had been birch colored, like the country, but the cost of her life was those colors. She had been a contract killer, a soldier for hire, and so she had been spared like one too.

"You need to buy something here?" Yugito guessed. She looked into the shop and wrinkled her nose. "It's an embroiderer-no, a fabric outlet."

"I can do that well enough on my own, there's no need," Sakura huffed.

She felt color heat her cheeks as she realized what she must look like to the others. There was no one around who looked like her, or was dressed in the style she was. Village folk wore patches, loose cotton, and dirty grass stained trousers. Her buttons glared too brightly across her breast. She and Yugito stood out too much together.

With her rifle on her back and the few possessions to her name in a bag, Sakura led the other girl through the village already bustling for evening celebrations, to the edge where footpaths led up to the mountain settlements. Small ranches and farmsteads dotted each of the platforms for as far as the path went.

Further and steeper than any of the others, a humble hut with just enough land for a clutch of chickens and a pig, perched on the side of the mountains where the earth eased and leveled. The fence posts were all painted different colors and decorated with designs of flowers, feathers, and creatures that hid between the leaves.

The color wasn't unusual, every house and each storefront had some part of it painted to protect it from the ghosts of sallow hearts. Many places painted flowers and animals, but only the hut of the story teller painted Firebirds and Leshy and weeping princesses made out of rose buds. Sakura knew the stories for each one, but loved some more than others.

"It looks like your rifle," Yugito remarked idly, eyes missing little.

"Makes sense. This is where the stories came from."

Yugito hummed idly before following Sakura into the front yard. "Is this grandmother of yours also an eagle eye who professes to be born with magic in her pupils?"

Sakura knew she was being teased at best, and mocked at worst. It wasn't anything new. "Of course not. Grandmother has far more magic than I do in things that  _actually_  matter."

Yugito grinned as if Sakura had just told her something funny.

Sakura knocked on the front door, wrapping her knuckles just above the three painted horses, one as black as pitch, once as red as fire, and the last as gray as mist. Sakura spit onto her fingers and then wiped the dust off the gray horse, revealing the white coat underneath.

"She's really not kept up with some of these things," Sakura grumbled before stepping back to wipe her dirty fingers on her pant's leg.

"No more than you would have in the same situation," a coy voice teased from behind.

Yugito had already been turned around but Sakura spun on her heel and nearly tripped when she saw her cousin, Shizune with a basket on her hip and a rosy smile on her lips. At her ankles a tiny pig tottered.

"O-oi!" Sakura sputtered. "What are you doing here?" The shock washed over her, and then in a moment it didn't matter anymore because she was reaching for the older woman with eyes and hair as black as raven wings.

Shizune laughed and dropped the basket to take Sakura completely into her arms, still a half a head taller. "It is good to see you here, alive and well. We were worried about you."

"I sent you letters," Sakura said. Then she pulled away. "Didn't you get them?"

"Letters are nice, but there is only so much you can trust the words on paper. It's better to be able to see you here like this right now. I'm glad you're well. Who did you bring?"

"Ah-sorry, I forgot I didn't mention her in the last letter, but this is Yugito, she helped me when I was sick and she wanted to tag along with me. It's not too crowded in this shack, is it?"

"Only and always, but you know we're resilient people. We'll find the room." Shizune reached behind Sakura and extended her arms for another hug that Yugito was too slow to avoid. "Thank you for taking care of my sweet, stupid cousin. You're welcome in our house for all your days. Come in and rest. We can feed you now."

Shizune pushed the front door open as Sakura followed after her with the discarded laundry basket in her arms. Yugito exchanged a hesitant glance down at the tiny piglet before following him inside.

Shizune called out into the house. "Baba, oi-oi, Baba, look who it is. I told you she would be skinny."

Sakura snickered. "You still call Baba, Baba."

Looking backwards Shizune flicked her finger at Sakura's nose. "Baba will always be Baba. Don't act like a brat about it. Get in here, both of you."

The door swung closed and latched on its own, following the natural tilt of the door jam that had only grown more slanted with the passage of time. Sakura glanced back to gauge Yugito's reaction, but like most things, she kept what she felt off her face and out of her eyes.

Baba Tsunade shambled out from the back of the hut with a rooster in her arms, frowning at the noise. Once she was in the main room the brightly colored bird flapped out of her hands to land on the kitchen table and then scurry across it to leap onto a window ledge.

Baba Tsunade was an old woman, but the lines of her face did a poor job of hiding the beauty she had once been and still was. Her hair had been pulled back into twin, blond tails that reached the base of her back where they dangled with ribbons and pierced coins. The cane she often relied upon was gone, or at least out of sight.

"Took you long enough. Was the city too much for you to leave behind?" Tsunade teased. She grabbed for the laundry basket in Sakura's hand to pass off to Shizune. "Come here."

Sakura felt like someone much younger with her grandmother's arms around her. Tsunade smelled like burned wood and oil paints, but was warm from all the layers of soft cotton.

"You're still short."

Sakura jerked back sharply, a dark look in her eyes as she heard Shizune laugh behind her. "Baba!" Sakura exclaimed in embarrassment.

But Tsunade's attention had already switched to the foreigner standing closest to the door. "Who is the friend you brought with you into my house?"

"It wasn't my plan, she just insisted on following me," Sakura muttered. "Here, this is Yugito Nii, Yugito, this is my grandmother, Tsunade. Sakura gestured back and forth while providing introductions.

"You brought a friend home?" Tsunade asked, skepticism coloring her tone.

"I can make friends too. Don't be so mean to me after I just came home. I've been away for nearly four years and this is the way you treat me?"

"How was she?" Tsunade asked, leaning down to Yugito's side and whispering conspiratorially into the younger woman's ear. "Was she terribly fresh with her superiors or did she manage to keep her bite between her teeth after all?"

Shizune came up behind Sakura and rested a hand on her cousin's shoulder, watching the whole exchange with a tender expression. "Baba, don't be rude. Let the girls rest a bit before you integrate either of them. We have a full night ahead of us, after all."

"I'm old, it's impossible for me to be rude." Tsunade leaned back on her heel, still a half head taller than either of the new arrivals, and looked Yugito over without any effort to be subtle. "But I guess we can feed you for your stories."

Tsunade reached for their coats and hung them up by the door before turning towards the kitchen to prepare the lunch. Shizune hurried to deal with the laundry before joining them. Surprisingly enough, Yugito seamlessly inserted herself into the preparation of the meal. She held a knife well enough to chop mushrooms, even if she didn't know what shape they cooked best at.

Sakura wiped the spinach, mushroom, and cheese excess off her fingers before dropping the Pierogi into the bubbling water. By the time the table was set Tsunade had prepared the seasoned peas, along with the sauerkraut salad where apple, carrot, and onion all flavored the fermented cabbage.

From behind Sakura felt her grandmother press herself close. She bent down to kiss at Sakura's cheek and whisper a quiet thank you that might have been for the meal or might have been for coming home.

The women sat together at the table, and Yugito stared pointedly at the painted figures in the wood before a jab from Sakura broke her concentration. With a huff, Yugito replaced her dish atop the colored painting of a Leshy man on the table.

"Who painted all the pictures?" Yugito asked, ignoring Sakura's unimpressed look. Tsunade had almost served the pierogi but paused to answer the question.

"My grandmother, and her mother, and her mother as far back as these walls belonged to us. A little bit more is added each time this place changes hands. One day Shizune will add her stories to the home's bones."

"Shizune? Not…." Yugito let her words hang awkwardly as her gaze shifted from between Shizune and Sakura.

Tsunade laughed. "No, only one at a time and Shizune was the one I chose to tell my stories to."

Shizune reached over to finish filling the plates, but spoke as she worked. "The role is a little more complicated than just telling stories. Another component of the job is teaching the children how to read. You have to have the right temperament for that."

"As you probably guessed, I'm much more suited to things that need that," Sakura muttered while lifting a finger in the direction of the fireplace.

Yugito followed with her eyes and saw that Sakura pointed to a old musket that hung over the fireplace with a powder horn and metal ball pouch nailed just under it. The gun was old, too old to be efficient, but not too old to work, probably. It was typical to see the older firearms out in the country where it was near impossible to legally acquire a modern rifle. Each princedom had the same idea when it came to an armed populace. ' _Less is best_.'

"It was the only thing my magic was good for," Sakura amended.

"You say that literally but…" Yugito let her words drift once more as she switched her gaze from Sakura to the old grandmother at the opposite end of the table.

"No, that's what it is. Sakura was lucky with what she got, since none of her sisters could claim to fill a thimble with the magic in them. Out of all my grandchildren, Shizune and Sakura were the only two I even considered."

Tsunade filled a cup with wine and then passed it down to Shizune who passed it on to Yugito. Sakura was already drinking from hers, but held it out for more before she could finish the first cup.

"Then what can you do?" Yugito asked, looking to Shizune.

Tsunade laughed loud and full before Shizune could even open her mouth. "Listen to that? She's quite forward, isn't she? I shouldn't be surprised though, with a northern guest," Tsunade said with her attention on Shizune. Her smile was still in place when she switched her gaze back to Yugito at the opposite end of the table. "Best eat your food before it grows too cold, little cat."

Yugito ruffled at the nickname, but ducked her head and ate without further comment until the meal was mostly finished and room was found for more questions. Nothing as outlandish as magic was brought up again, and Sakura suspected Yugito believed it was all a family joke by the end of the meal, but didn't care to put any effort into persuading her.

Shizune left first to prepare an extra bed for Yugito in Sakura's old room. Yugito headed off to help leaving Sakura with Tsunade in the kitchen, cleaning up together.

Sakura gathered up the excess food and carried it outside to where the pigs could have at it in the morning when they roused. When she turned to head back inside her grandmothers was already there in the doorway, and in her hands was Sakura's rifle.

"You've picked up an interesting friend there. It's not often a soldier makes such a dedicated companion out of someone from the opposite side. What did you do?"

Sakura licked her lips, remembering what it felt like to go dry with fever that burned her out and left her feeling hollow the way threshing floors felt after a harvest. A fever that intense would have killed her without a doubt, but Yugito had been there when she shouldn't have been. Sakura ducked her head and kept the thoughts to herself.

"You might get an answer that makes more sense if you ask her yourself. I don't understand it that well on my own. I saved her life once, but she returned the favor, so as I see it we're even."

"And yet she's here." Tsunade turned the rifle over, running her fingers across the wooden faces and designs Sakura had hand carved. Finally she glanced up and held Sakura's eyes. "Why?"

"She said she's responsible for me since she saved my life, but I think she's a bit excessive with all this."

"Do you mind?" Tsunade pressed.

"Not really."

Sakura leaned back and looked up to where the sky was starting to burn in gold colors from afternoon's slip into evening. Dusk wasn't many hours away, and soon the night would reveal the rivers of stars that were destined to cross.

When silence stretched between them Sakura looked back down at her grandmother. "I don't dislike her, and I don't care to press her more than I have as to how she feels about every little thing. If you're alright with it, I don't have any issue with a tag along until she gets tired and goes home."

Tsunade laughed. "And how long do you think that will be? You think she'll stay until the Confluence, until you're settled in here, until you're married, until you're old and gray? How deep is the dedication of this girl to her ideals?"

"I couldn't tell you that, Baba. You might ask her yourself in the morning and get a better idea of it. For until the Confluence at least."

Tsunade nodded. "She's welcome as long as you are. You know I don't mind having another helper around. You can both work on the chores that go into this place and alleviate some of Shizune's burdens. And I'd be doing you both a favor. See, the two of you can practice adjusting to a life that doesn't involve gunpowder and sabers."

Sakura glanced away. "Of course."

Tsunade hummed and strode forward to press the rifle back into Sakura's hands. She ran a finger down the carved skeleton of a snake filled with flowers. The snake's skeletal jaws were wide and stretched over the iron trigger guard, poised to strike the finger the drew the trigger. "This is a new one. I recognize the others."

Sakura took the rifle carefully, her thumb lightly tracing the divots and grooves in the wood from her artistic efforts. "He's mine. I made him to remind me of-" Sakura caught her words behind her teeth and swallowed them back down. She licked her lips and tried again. "To remind me of what I needed to do."

"What is he called?"

Sakura snorted, shouldering the rifle and heading around her grandmother. "No use giving him a name. I'm the only one it matters to and I'm not a storyteller." Sakura waved a hand over her back as if to dismiss anything else her grandmother might say. "Never mind something this silly. You have plenty to prepare for the celebration tonight, don't you? Tell me about it and we'll help."

"There's nothing left for you to worry with. I'm sure you saw some of the set up on your way here. They're already celebrating but we won't be necessary until the stars are out. Come inside."

Sakura took a step and then paused, looking back. "Actually, I think I'd rather stay outside for a few minutes longer, if that's okay. Here, take my rifle inside, will you?"

Tsunade shot her a look but accepted the firearm and disappeared inside. Sakura was left one her own with the animals and the mountain air.

The pigs were half wild and grazing down the forested mountain side, loitering as they pleased until they were fat enough. Sakura noted that there were plenty of chickens to collect eggs from as the only male rooster had been effectively kept from their houses so far.

Four years ago there were nearly half as many chickens to collect eggs from, and she supposed it was thanks to Shizune's efforts the flock had more than doubled. Shizune was far more suited to the homestead lifestyle. She had far more patience than Sakura, and had a gift when it came to cultivating.

Sakura remembered Shizune just knowing when the chickens' eggs were ready, as well as which chickens could still lay eggs and which ones were too old for it. Shizune knew when things were ready to harvest without even checking the calendar. Shizune said she felt suggestions, and Tsunade explained that it was her gift. Sakura had eyes that could see impossibly far, but Shizune could feel the flow of future events. Between the two of them, it was an easy decision who Tsunade should pick.

Instead, she was….

Sakura closed her eyes and saw a different world, a world of white that bled red as body after body fell into the snow and bled out. She remembered the feel as cartridge after cartridge emptied out of her rifle, each one hitting something solid.

Perched high, she was behind enemy lines and nearly out of sight. She shouldn't haven been able to, but she saw down where the last person in a unit knelt to reload his weapon. She took him out. The person next to him noticed before Sakura killed her too. One by one, like dominoes, as soon as the solider noticed the dead comrade next to them Sakura's shot split them open.

And then there was a blond officer who turned and saw. She was the last one, left in ditch thick with corpses. Sakura saw the expression on her face too clearly to miss its meaning. The blond officer knew her death was coming but couldn't see from where it would spring.

Sakura loaded one last cartridge into her rifle, but her hand stilled on the bolt.

The woman was a mess in a torn and bloody blue uniform, and for some reason Sakura's stomach turned for the girl. The officer wasn't a woman. She was just a girl that looked too young to be so resigned for death.

Sakura righted her gun and backed up, leaving the blond officer to wonder when her death would find her.

* * *

_"No trauma has discrete edges. Trauma bleeds. Out of wounds and across boundaries."_  
— Leslie Jamison,  
The Empathy Exams: Essays

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	2. Chapter 2

**A Confluence of Stars**

 

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_"The old world is dying away, and the new world struggles to come forth: now is the time of monsters."  
— Antonio Gramsci_

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Chapter 1

Part 2

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Sakura jerked when she heard the gate behind her creak open. Yugito stood in the way, wearing one of Sakura's old dresses. Her hair was still braided but at least it wasn't pinned up like they insisted all military ladies do. It was a little jarring to see Yugito out of uniform, but with a stab of envy, Sakura noted that the dress style suited her.

"You changed," Sakura said, nodding to the dress. "It looks nice. It suits you."

Yugito frowned, but it didn't reach her eyes, so Sakura knew she wasn't really mad. "You should get changed too. We're not allowed to dress comfortably for parties, it seems."

"That's pretty typical for women."

"Not where I'm from," Yugito muttered, ducking her head as she turned to head back inside.

Yugito let the gate swing shut behind her without waiting for Sakura. Where the gate left a gap Sakura caught sight of the golden lace rooster creeping closer with his eye on the huts filled with lady chicken.

"Not today, casanova," Sakura hissed as she rushed out to latch the gate before he could get in.

She double checked it before turning around to follow after Yugito but stopped when she noticed someone coming up the steep trail that ultimately ended at the house. They were jogging too.

"Oi, Baba!" Sakura shouted from behind Yugito. "You expecting company?"

She suddenly felt naked without her rifle. She wanted it on her back, she wanted to feel its weight and know it was there even though she knew she was safe. The war was over and she was home. There was no more need for her nerves.

Shizune poked her head out, looking around Yugito to where Sakura was staring and frowned. "Oh great, it's not even evening. Sakura, shouldn't you recognize Kiba?"

Sakura could feel Yugito staring at her but dropped her face into her hands to hide the way her features all twisted up. "Nooooo. Ugh, not  _him_ , please. Yugito get me my gun. I'm going hunting."

"I'm not your slave," Yugito responded dryly.

"You!" Sakura's flushed face snapped up out of her hands. "Oh, you don't have to be a slave to do a girl a favor. Just move, I'll get it myself."

Shizune reached out and grabbed Sakura before she could head inside. Gently, she turned the younger girl around and hugged her from behind. "Shhh, don't overreact. He's just a kid and I'm sure you don't have a crush on him anymore. He probably forgot all about it. It's been years since then, hasn't it?"

Yugito scoffed and shook her head. "I'll be inside should you need me," she said, moving around the two cousins in the doorway.

"You're abandoning me," Sakura hissed.

"You'll live, that's all I care about." Behind her the door fell shut and latched.

"What a fun friend you've made in the army," Shizune teased in a singing voice. "If only all your friends treated you with so much love."

"Don't let her hear you call us friends. She's already explained it to me multiple times how we aren't even that. She just thinks she owes me her life or something."

Shizune hummed, watching the male figure come up the skinny path to their plot of land. Behind Kiba a shabby white gray dog bound up with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Four years ago the dog had been a puppy no larger than both her palms, but now it looked big enough for babies to ride.

"Do I have to greet him, I don't have anything to say. Let me go inside," Sakura grumbled, reaching up to paw at Shizune's arms. Shizune had always been older and bigger and years hadn't changed that fact even after Sakura finished growing.

"If I let you go then I have to deal with him on my own. No way, little cous," she cooed in mock sweetness.

Sakura deflated, remembering that for as stupid as she had been to have a crush on a younger Kiba, he had been an even bigger fool to think himself in love with 'fair Shizune.' They had been a mess in their youthful years, as youths often are, but the embarrassment still weighed heavily on Sakura. She remembered too well.

"What is he even doing here? The whole village should be preparing for the festival tonight. He has a family to help, doesn't he?" Sakura asked.

"Ah, well, while you were gone I might have needed his help with a few things like running errands down in the village proper. He's probably coming to check in on me and ask for work."

"You hired him as a helper?"

Shizune snickered. "Do we look like we're made out of money? He was happy to help."

"You didn't," Sakura gaped.

Shizune lightly pinched Sakura from behind. "Don't judge me too harshly cous. It's hard with only Baba and me, plus I never lied or deceived the kid. He knew what he was doing."

Four years ago Sakura might have felt differently about her cousin manipulating the boy, but war had done a lot to wear down the petty jealousies in her heart. They weren't all gone, but she didn't feel anything for the scruffy wolf boy and could honestly compliment Shizune now for her handling of the situation.

Kiba was close enough to make out the details of his features and dress. Sakura could see his sunburned cheeks were still full of freckles and his hair as wild as ever as it brushed his shoulders in messy locks. If she could see him that meant he probably had a good view of the both of them too.

Sakura tapped Shizune's hand and tried to move out one last time. "Well, Baba is probably sending us down to do errands or something so you can deal with Kiba and send him off yourself."

Shizune tightened her grip and laughed. "Not so fast my favorite cousin ever, you gotta stick with me, remember?"

"Shizune!" Kiba hollered. He waved his arm high over his head and Akamaru, his dog, barked loudly. "Hey, you're out already! Heeeey!"

Sakura felt Shizune groan through her smile.

Kiba trotted into their front yard behind Akamaru who had dashed ahead of his master to bark at the girls and sniff their feet before turning and running back towards Kiba.

"Who's your friend, Shizune? Here for the festival tonight?" Kiba stopped a handful of paces away from them and grinned brightly. He stuck a hand out, barely grubby "Hello, I'm Kiba the local errand boy."

Sakura felt Shizune pinch her from behind but Sakura couldn't help herself. It had only been four years. She hadn't changed that much.

"Kiba, are you blind as well as dumb now too? Where are you looking, talking to someone like you don't know them?" Sakura loudly demanded.

At first he looked upset, but Sakura saw the exact moment awareness dawned for the freckled boy. His eyes grew wide and his jaw went slack. Then he pointed at her and uttered a hesitant, "Sakura?"

"Who else?"

"What!" Kiba exclaimed. "Is that really you, Sakura? You're back? What are you doing here? When did you arrive? Holy ghosts above, wow." He shook his head and ran both hands through his messy hair before looking at her again.

"I'm here for the festival but I'm staying here as long as they have need of me. Don't get too used to seeing my face," Sakura grumbled, prying Shizune's arm off her shoulders. "You haven't changed that much."

"What do you mean I haven't changed that much? I grew four meters! I'm plenty bigger than how I used to be!" he sputtered with red coloring his cheeks. "Your bad habits haven't changed, I see."

"Nor have yours," Sakura muttered, side eyeing her cousin.

Kiba chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't be jealous. I'm sure with your new looks you'll be fine without my attentions. Ah, but Shizune, won't you invite me in for lunch? I'm sure Baba Tsunade will have plenty of work to share even with Sakura here."

"I'm sure she does," Sakura muttered in sarcasm as she let herself in through the front door.

Kiba caught it behind her and held it out for Shizune to pass him. Inside, Yugito was already at the table shucking peas in a seat directly across from Tsunade. Both looked up when they heard the door.

Kiba stalled a bit on his heels, staring at Yugito with surprise and then confusion before he side stepped to allow Shizune to pass him.

"More guests?" he asked. Hesitantly, he approached the table and eyed the new girl intently before coming up with some decision that resulted with him extending a hand. "Hey there, I'm sure I don't know you at least. The name's Kiba, by the way. You here visiting for the festival?"

Yugito took his hand and shook it firmly, making Kiba almost squeak in surprise. "Yugito. I'm staying as long as Sakura." Her words were crisp and tone level, like what one would expect of a girl groomed for a military career.

Sakura sat down next to Yugito at the table and reached into the bowl to help shuck the peas that really shouldn't have been harvested because the season was all wrong for them, but that was just Tsunade's gift. She could grow a pumpkin in July if she asked it kindly enough.

"I'll need someone to retrieve my world map from the cartographer I've had commissioned," Baba Tsunade began. "And the story cards for tonight might be finished. His daughter was gracious enough to work on the illustrations for Shizune's repertoire."

"You already have a repertoire figured out?" Sakura asked, looking to Shizune. "How many stories do you have?"

"Only three right now. I'm waiting on those story cards to tell the fourth one," Shizune answered easily.

"That's a lot, right?" Kiba asked, glancing between Shizune and Baba Tsunade.

"It's enough to start out with," Shizune hurriedly explained. "But Baba has almost one hundred stories perfectly memorized without picture cards or aids. Each year I'll add a couple of stories."

Sakura stared at the peas, barely feeling their texture between her fingers. "Which stories have you chosen to keep?" she asked, eyes still set on the pea pods.

"I've chosen The Wooden Doll Son, The Diligent Girl & the Lazy Girl, and the story of the Magic Lock."

Sakura nodded along, recognizing the stories and remembering each one as a personal favorite of Shizune's. It made sense she would pick her favorite stories to memorize first. They were all good stories for teaching, too. Stories that warned against greed, sloth, and dishonesty would be perfect for a young audience.

Sakura's favorite stories had not been the best for moral teaching. While Shizune's favorite tales always had clear messages to learn, the fables Sakura favored had their morals buried too deep for the youngest audiences to easily grasp.

"Are those all the chores you need us to run for you?" Sakura asked, looking to her grandmother.

Baba Tsunade reached for the bowl of peas and dragged it away from where Sakura and Yugito could easily access it. "Leave this here. Sakura, you put something suitable on and don't worry about any other chores. It's late enough that some of the games have already begun." She squinted at Kiba. "Have they finished the shooting competitions yet?"

Kiba started to light up with good news but Sakura stopped up his words with a look. "I think I've used a rifle enough for one lifetime to try my hand at sport. It's fine if we miss  _that_  event."

Before anyone else could say something Sakura excused herself to the back of the house where her things had been left as they were four years ago. Yugito's items had been placed at the foot of the bed along with extra blankets.

Sakura shed her trousers with quick regret and donned a long white cotton shift with red flowers sewn into the ends of the sleeves. She paired it with a long red and black embroidered vest that trailed all the way down to her ankles in three separate sections cut up to her waist. When she spun suddenly the three parts of her vest flew out like the wings and tail of a bird. It was the nicest thing she owned and she only wished it made her look nicer.

When she emerged again Kiba had already left to run Tsunade's errands and Shizune had gone to the baths in the back of the house to clean herself before donning her storytelling was no reason for the girls to tarry, so Sakura hook Yugito on her arm and led the taller girl out of the house and down the mountain without a word.

The girls found their way through the swelling crowds that seemed busier than Sakura remembered any seasonal celebration being. Even after four years of skirmishes and war, people still seemed eager to enjoy themselves for a day.

All the best traditions from a year's worth of celebrations would be brought together for a single night. Each of the five seasons had its own flavor of celebration.

For spring there were always flowers, sweet desserts, painted eggs exchanged, and dolls sewn shut with flowers in their heart to protect little girls for another long year.

In wet season, people soaked papers to burn in different colors as a way of sending off their best hopes to the sodden heavens. The ashes were spread across the faces of married women and too young daughters. There is no dancing, but there is plenty of food and song and music.

Summer celebrations always had the best dances and outdoor games. Children hunted for prizes hidden by parents while the older youth showed off their skill in the games.

In the autumn they started the story tellings after burning the year's straw men and fashioning wreaths to protect their doorways from the ills of winter.

There was plenty of food in the Autumn, but the greatest feats were always in the winter where young women wanted their fortunes told and older men made tourneys out of their cards. The storytelling was the highlight in winter more than any other time of year, because that was when people were the most hungry.

Summer celebration had just passed and all the game booths and decorations were still fresh as people propped them up. The flowers and ribbons from spring decorated the Pole of Fates as well as the feasting tables. She recognized the crafting tables where people could sew dreaming dolls or carve soldier icons, as well as the tables where wares were on sale.

Somewhere someone was plucking strings in a melody Sakura remembered from girlhood wet seasons.

"You don't stand out as much, anymore," Sakura joked, nodding her chin at a couple of travelers dressed in imperial blue colors. No one wore birch colors anymore. "We must be one of the only places celebrating if people are coming from so far away."

Yugito eyed the travelers in blue but kept close to Sakura's side, seemingly uninterested in observing them any longer. "Like I've said before, most places don't celebrate something that happens only once every hundred or so years. Who can afford to remember back that far?"

"That's exactly the purpose of a storyteller. They tell stories that are older than people, places, or things. When everyone else forgets, the storytellers remember."

"To what end?"

Sakura couldn't help herself, she groaned aloud. "Hell if it matters to you. Stories are important. They're lessons and they're balms. Some are meant to teach and others are there to comfort. Some do both, but I wouldn't expect a factory girl to understand that."

"You give me too much credit. If I had been assembled in a factory I might not have fared so poorly on the ridges." It wasn't exactly a joke, but it was close enough to make Sakura falter in her steps and gap at the blond. Yugito didn't smile and that somehow made it funnier.

The bulk of the sporting festivities seemed to have swelled just after the noon sun peaked, with the loudest wrestling matches and archery competitions drawing crowds like helpless magnets until the very last arrow or throw. As the sun sank, more of the festivities shifted from competitions to crafts and feasting. Children wove about strangers and locals alike, trailing their ribbons from the Fate Pole.

"Someone might still want to wrestle you," Yugito joked as the girls passed a gaggle of men without shirts. Some looked more bruised than others but each one wore a coat of mud in some variation.

"No thank you. I've done enough wrestling with my own demons to get dirty with theirs. I want to make a doll."

Sakura ducked when she felt familiar eyes on her, dragging Yugito to the tables where children sewed the bellies of fabric dolls closed or carved them out of wood.

"They protect you if you take care of them, save your dreams from demons and the like," Sakura explained. She took a seat at the table on the bench and then made room for Yugito to join her.

"There are only children making these things," she grumbled. But Yugito sat beside Sakura and then after a moment she reached for the scraps of what was an unfinished doll.

"Let me tell you a story then, and forgive me if I'm not a storyteller," Sakura whispered. Her hands were tugging on the threads that defined the doll's arms. As she worked the details and boundaries of the doll became more refined, less uneven.

"Back in the old days when wishing still helped, there was once a daughter with two spineless sisters and a vicious mother."

"Don't you mean evil step-sisters?"

Sakura reached out and slapped at Yugito. "Don't interrupt. It's rude. No, these were not step sisters, and they were not evil, they were just cowards who copied their mother without knowing better. The youngest was kind because she wasn't afraid and so that is why her step mother hated her. You see, this old woman had married for no reason other than her own self preservation and comfort, and had no desire to mother girls. The two eldest made themselves meek and agreeable and avoided the strict woman's scorn. The youngest did not. The stepmother could only think of this meek daughter as a thorn in her side."

Yugito almost interrupted again but a glare from Sakura stopped her mouth. Instead she looked down at the doll she was messily piecing together with scrap fabrics. Across the table a couple of girls with faces full of freckles slowed in their own decorating to lean in and listen to Sakura's story.

"The only thing this girl had left behind from her mother was a scrap-work doll she should have outgrown, but because she was kind to women and wood alike, she was kind to her doll, tending to it when it tore, and saving a spot on her mattress for it each night. So this youngest daughter grew up in a home where her father was always gone and her step mother too harsh to please. Days become weeks and weeks become months, and months became years. Kids became goats, foals became steeds, boys became men, and daughters became women.

Sakura went on to tell of how the stepmother despised the youngest and most beautiful of her girls and sought a way to be rid of her. The stepmother borrowed old magic from those who would offer it and made their house dark and void of fire. Nothing would light their stove or burn their wood. Only the crones in the woods would have a way to bring back fire to their stoves, for only crones with their own magic could undo the weaker and borrowed magic.

The stepmother ordered the youngest to go into the wood with an offering of rosemary bread and honey in exchange for fire. But the woods are dangerous and long and by the time the youngest daughter found the old woman with a home, her bread was stale and hard as stone, leaving only the honey.

The crone answered her door for the young girl and took the honey but said, 'I have no bread to enjoy this with. I will not give you what you ask before I have my bread. You will stay here and work for me until the harvest yields me my bread. If you do not I will have my pigs eat you. If you run they will hunt you down.

Sakura looked up from her doll to see the girls across the table frozen like living statues, eyes blown wide and mouths partly open. It wasn't an uncommon story, but Sakura knew she could tell her favorite stories well enough for such a reaction. Joining the listening was a boy who worked on his wood soldier beside his older brother. Both leaned in to hear, but only the boy actually showed that he paid her any attention with his posture turned towards Sakura.

"And then?" Yugito asked when Sakura's pause stretched too long.

Sakura smiled coyly. "Ah, well this daughter was not like her sisters. Where they might have cowered and begged, the youngest was brave and said, 'I will stay and work for you until you have your bread.' And so she slept on the floor by the fireplace and ate the dried meats and mushrooms served her. In the morning the crone went out to sow the fields but left an impossible list of tasks for the youngest daughter to complete. If she failed the pigs would eat her. As she wept the tears fell on her doll and the thing came to life on her lap."

" It was because of all those years of kindness that such magic worked in the hut of the crone in the woods. The doll consoled the girl and then began to move about the home, tending to the impossible chores with her own magic until the sun sank low and the crone returned. She was almost upset to see that all her impossible demands had been met but enjoyed the dinner she had requested too much. So she ate and slept and woke in the morning to tend to the fields. The crone left behind her another set of impossible tasks that the youngest daughter could only do with the help and magic of her doll.

"Like the day before, the crone came home almost disappointed at the youngest daughter's success, but liked her dinner too much. And so days became weeks and weeks became months and seeds became wheat stalks, and wheat stalks became flour, and flour became bread. The day finally came when the crone baked her rosemary bread and spread it thick with honey."

Sakura made her voice deep and leaned over the doll, pretending she didn't notice her audience. "Take this candle with you, girl, and keep it close that it not be seen by others, for it will not go out until it has burned away all the magic in your cursed home. Never drop it no matter how surprised you may be."

Sakura turned the doll in her hands over again before continuing on with the story in her usual voice. "And so the youngest daughter ventured through the woods. When she paused the flame would whisper to her and she almost dropped it because of shock, but the doll in her belt held the bottom of the candle steady. Together, they made it back to her home where her sisters had been chased out in fear of the dark and her step mother remained in peace and solitude as she had always wished it to be. But before the youngest daughter could ask what had happened of her sisters, the speaking flame roared off its wick and swallowed up the entire home, turning all manner of terrible colors until the step mother and her borrowed magic were nothing but ash in the middle of the world. The youngest daughter went out into the world with her doll and eventually found her sisters who had learned a little courage over the years. The sisters lived happily, though not without trial, all the years after that."

Sakura looked down at the doll between her hands. She had stuffed a handful of dried flowers into the chest in place of a heart. A red thread as dark as blood crossed over the chest opening. When Sakura tugged on the thread the chest pieces were pulled together, overlapping just enough to keep safe what had been stuffed inside. She knotted it without looking, instead glancing to Yugito's mess of a half dressed doll.

"Shizune must really be something if she's a better storyteller than you."

Sakura felt something in her chest throb. Her face felt hot so she ducked it and instead reached for Yugito's doll to help fix it.

"She is. I don't tell the stories faithfully. I didn't even name the characters, and I even changed the ending where a king finds her and falls in love. You can't do that when you're a story keeper. You memorize the stories faithfully, word for word, and you never leave anything out. I was never very good at that."

Yugito huffed, accepting the doll Sakura dropped into her waiting hands. "Maybe so, but I enjoyed the story at least. I think it's the most I've liked you so far."

Sakura grinned. "So you  _do_  like me."

Yugito's face didn't flinch or betray anything of what she might have been thinking when she responded in a level tone. "A little more than before, but that's not saying much, since I still like egg cakes more than you."

"Egg cakes are terrible," Sakura whined.

"They're easy to make and they're good for you."

Sakura turned around in her seat and leaned against the table, groaning loudly. "You're so mean." Her eyes caught something and then her nose caught it next. "But I'm hungry. Let's go get festival food."

They bought food served on sticks they needed their teeth to pull free as the guns came out and went off in the fields where arrows had once been used. Four years ago there had only been four guns in the whole village and by the sound of it, that hadn't changed. Some things, like the Empire's chokehold on firearms, never seemed to change.

"Do you think they're any better than you?" Yugito asked.

"Not likely." Sakura dug her teeth into the meat and pulled it free from the stick before chewing loudly. When she spoke again it was harder to hear the edge in her words thanks to the food. "It's not like I've not had the chance to practice while I was gone."

There was a crack in the air and someone screamed, but then there was giddy laughter and more cheers. Sakura pulled the meat away from her mouth and stared at was left, confused at how suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore. Maybe she had eaten enough.

When she looked up there were people she recognized from years ago staring at her from across the road, whispering behind their hands. One looked determined to cross the street and greet her.

It was a celebration but Sakura felt like talking with people who knew her as a child was the last thing she wanted to do, so she ducked her head and turned away. Sakura didn't need to drag Yugito since the girl was pulled by an invisible force all on her own.

"Come 'ere," a voice interrupted. She felt a hand on her shoulder tug her sideways and looked up to see Kiba, grumbling to himself as he pulled her, and then Yugito along. "You're not going to go on like that all day long. It's a big ass celebration and there are some people who actually want to see you again for more than just hot gossip."

Yugito increased her pace to overtake the boy and reached out to break his hold, but Kiba glanced back over his shoulder in time and tutted at her outstretched hand. "None of that. Sakura knows better." Kiba looked from Yugito to the pink haired girl. "You can run away from the grannies but you keep everyone at arm's distance today it'll only be harder to reach out tomorrow. Sit with my mom at least."

"You're quite presumptuous, aren't you?" Yugito huffed.

"You're not from a small town, are you? Well, we're worse, we're a village, not even big enough to be a town. We either all learn to work together or we don't work at all."

Sakura looked up past Kiba and saw several of the mothers she had known before their hair went gray in places they hid under red scarves. Each one was wearing her laugh lines like they were proud decorations. One of the three women looked up and the third followed their gaze once Kiba called out to them.

"Sakura, and your friend, I heard about you from Shizune before she set up to read. Oh dear, it's so good to see you," the blond woman cooed, reaching for Sakura. "Ino would have been thrilled if she were here right now."

Sakura fell into the hug easily. "Nevertheless, I'll not deny her the fancy life she's found in the city for such a bland reunion."

"Take a seat and take a slice. Here," Kurina the dark haired wife of Asuma said, pulling over a pan of pie with the serving knife left inside.

"Ah, but she's old enough for some of this, isn't she?" Tsume Inuzuka cheered, eyeing her son playfully while she produced a bottle of sweet wine. "It helps it all go down."

"Is that the good stuff? No fair, mom," Kiba whined when he saw the bottle. "You only let us have the crappy stuff."

Tsume laughed and began pouring twin cups for Yugito and Sakura who had seated themselves at the table. The other mothers turned in and set their backs to Kiba, ignoring him as he huffed away to find someone else. Far behind them the sound of gunfire was nothing but a muffle.

She could breath again.

The chatter eased all around her and the women wove stories like it was their life's thread work. One comment was seamless as it tied the whole of their conversation together and Sakura found herself caught up in their stories about all the things she had missed. They didn't ask her much about what she had done, hadn't pressed her when she hesitated the first time. They had enough to tell her between all of them that before she knew it the torches were being lit and the bonfire wood was being soaked with bad wine that burned just as well.

Kiba came around again and this time he was with Mirai Sarutobi, Kurenai's daughter the artist. Together they were able to convince Sakura and Yugito to try the childish festival games like conqueror's cup, where a miniature flag was stuck in a cup of sand that contestants had to take turns scooping out with a spoon.

"The one who makes the flag fall by taking away sand is the loser," Sakura explained to a bewildered Yugito while handing over a spoon.

To no one's surprise, Kiba lost two times in a row before it was Sakura's misjudgment that brought the third flag down. But then they all wanted more food and decided to follow Mirai to where the candies were being served.

It wasn't quite yet the season for apples, that would come in a month once summer finished for good, but the flavor was preserved in the syrup they drizzled over hot waffles.

"Better?" Kiba asked. They were seated not close enough to feel the heat of the fire, but close enough to see by its light. Some of the firelight dancing had already begun as people occasionally tossed papers they had written regrets onto into the fire.

' _To be consumed and forgotten,_ ' Baba Tsunade had once explained. Usually people saved such traditions for wet spring, but Confluence was a night when all the traditions were peeled back and put on display like a ripe flower. The Harvest dancers flickered with the flames fed by wet spring's regrets, while summer foods and winter desserts were consumed with gusto. It was a mess of every celebration and probably the biggest turn out Sakura had ever seen for her little village.

"I'm always better, what are you asking for?" Sakura quipped in reply. She stuffed her face full of fluffy waffle and let the apple syrup stain her lips.

"Too bad Shizune has to do reading. She would have been fun to play with," Kiba grumbled.

"I don't believe you. She doesn't play child games anymore," Sakura snorted.

Mirai heard the comment and laughed. "You got that right, Sakura. Shizune has been sort of a wet blanket ever since you left. She thinks she's so grown up now." She waved her hands dismissively and paired it with an eye roll Sakura recognized from her own youth.

"She is grown up," Kiba insisted.

Mirai rolled her eyes. "That doesn't mean she has to be such a stick about it. Sakura isn't. Shizune's only five years older than me, she's not a crone so I don't see why she has to treat me like a kid all the time. It doesn't help me get into the mood to paint her story cards either."

"You are an artist?" Yugito asked. "Tsunade showed me some of her cards. Those were your work?"

"Naturally." Mirai's eyes creased like a cat's when pleased. "You liked them, I can tell. You have a good eye for art. I'm the best for miles around."

Kiba tried to wash his waffle down with fermented milk but couldn't help but pause to mutter under his breath. "That's cause there ain't no one else for miles around."

Mirai snapped at his face with one hand and stole his cup with the other, tipping it back and drinking what was left of the milk alcohol before he could recover.

"Hey," Sakura chastised. She reached over and took away the empty cup. "You're a little young for that still. She sniffed and then wrinkled her nose. "And if you're going to get drunk you could do with something better. At least enjoy what you ingest."

But it was barely dusk anymore, and everyone knew that after sundown if there was still celebration, it was always with copious amount of strong drink. Almost everything still being served in a cup was heavy and dangerous for lips that didn't want to lose their secrets.

Kiba had grabbed a pair of cups off a nearby table and offered one to Yugito and Sakura before taking another one for himself. Sakura took her drink and sniffed the honey wine before tipping it back. It would be a while before she needed to worry.

"Let me show you something else I've been working on," Mirai suddenly exclaimed, reaching out for Yugito's hand and pulling the girl up onto her feet and across the street towards the cartographer's place. Sakura waved at them, smiling to encourage Yugito along and the blond didn't hesitant after that.

Kiba filled her cup up from a pitcher someone had brought to him and Sakura didn't tell him no. She sipped at her drink and then let the rest of it warm her throat as the stars winked into the sky overhead. They both leaned back, watching as more and more of the night sky came into focus, now that the sun was truly set and gone.

Two thick clusterous streams of stars cut across the sky like freckled scars, one thicker and brighter, the other thinner and more distant with only a handful of notable stars to make it worthy of being called a river of stars. The two star rivers were almost always visible, though not always at the same time or in the same region. One moved far more than the other, after all.

They had nearly overlapped.

"Not long now, huh?" Kiba asked.

Sakura could only hum, mesmerized by how the stars of the Desert River fit almost perfectly into the gaps of the much thicker and brighter Milk River. She felt something in her heart come close to breaking and she didn't know why.

"You seem happy to be back at least." Kiba casually propped himself up onto his elbow, facing her more so than the stars. "Was it really not as bad as we all thought it would be? You don't seem terribly scarred from war craft."

Sakura peeled her eyes off the stars and leveled them at Kiba, noting absently that he swayed a bit in her vision. "You thought I would be scarred. Why? Because we lost and I nearly came home with my head off my shoulders?" She took another sip. "Ha, it would have been more than I deserved."

It was Kiba's turn to hum in acknowledgment. "You know, some places still hang the banner with the birch trees? We might have been absorbed into Yugito's princedom, but we've been on this side of the mountain since forever and nothing has changed in us to matter that much." He reached for her hand, expressions warning. "No one is going to say anything tonight, and maybe not even tomorrow, but that uniform might be a bit too much for some old fogies. They don't like the idea of our village being swept up in this whole allegiance shift."

"It's just a principality. They don't matter." Sakura sighed into her drink, emptying it. "We'll still pay a parly tax to be ignored. That's how it is."

Overhead the stars seemed to shift and turn...more than they should. As Sakura leaned back to watch them, the rest of her drink emptied into her mouth and she swallowed it all. It tasted sweet, but less so than before.

"Are you going to be okay here? Is that why Yugito is sticking close to you? She looks like the sort they would send to long term spy on someone."

Sakura filled her cup up again. "No, maybe, I don't know. If she's here to spy on me there's nothing to report. I'll put away my gun and do something simple with my life. All those exciting years are behind me now. No more war hero stories, I'm afraid." Sakura took a long drink and then pulled back. "Not that I was much of a hero. No one ever saw my face."

_Last she saw the couple swaddled in rich furs, they had been standing in birch colors and swearing allegiance to a lie._

Oh, but she remembered seeing their faces, all of them, each one with impossible clarity. Maybe not the soldiers in blue, but every deserter was a face she'd never forget. It had been easy to kill from far away, the people whose faces she could never connect to a voice. Strangers looked best in red, but it was the people she had talked to, know, worked beside, and fought for that haunted her most.

"Are you going to be okay?"

She thought it an odd question so she turned to face Kiba and the tears in her eyes fell out, pulled along by the shift and she nearly jerked from the feel of them, warm and wet on her cold face. She blinked and reached up with the palms of her hands to rub them away.

"It's the smoke," Sakura hissed. Her voice didn't warble, so she was thankful for the excuse.

"Did you… lose anyone important?" Kiba's stare was too direct as he leaned closer to her. "Was it really terrible?"

"No." She reached out to push him back and he fell off his elbow with a grunt. She didn't apologize but instead reached for the jug to fill up his own cup with what was left of the honeyed wine. "It was fine and I'll figure out how to make this life fine too."

She was honest when she said she it was fine, because fine didn't mean good, and she had plenty of time to figure out what her life would look like with Baba Tsunade doing something she really wasn't suited to.

A few voices in the crowd cheered and pointed at the stars, and Sakura saw what they were excited about. The stars looked like they were made to exist in the spaces between each other. It was a sight that left a feeling in her bones so heavy that she needed to stand and move to feel like herself again.

She stumbled away from the benches where she had sat with Kiba, knowing she hadn't drunk enough for the headache or burning in her arms. She heaved a breath out through her mouth, smelling the honey, and grabbed for someone passing by. It was a boy almost as slovenly as her with cheeks as red as apples. He was laughing and stumbling the sloppy steps of a dance her body remembered even if she didn't. Sakura let him carry her around the bonfire until the faces blurred.

So many voices were laughing at once, Sakura saw behind her a man wearing a demon chaser mask, adjusting the straw headdress that covered his human hair from view. He chased the edges of the dance along with all the other men and boys in masks before breaking off to dance to the outskirts and warn the demons that might wander in during harvest season.

Somewhere close Baba Tsunade was telling the children the story of the Confluence, and every time Sakura and her partner turned around the bonfire, she heard a little more of it. Memory filled in the gaps her ears couldn't.

"And then the meek beasts all lost their voices, and then the great beasts became stupid, and then finally the holy beasts who dwell deeper in the forest than any others lost their words. Every Confluence took a little more magic out of the world, stripping it bare to make room for more humans. Tell me why, little ones."

The children clamored at Baba Tsunade's feet and Sakura could only guess at what they were saying when her dancing partner spun too sharply and stumbled with her into a table. A couple of mothers caught them together and chastised them with laughter.

Sakura started to pull away, already tired of dancing, but the boy had his hands on her wrists and his face was red all over from wine. Sakura only vaguely remembered him from before she left four years ago. He had been much younger then. No wonder he handled his drink so poorly.

"You should get to bed, Konohamaru," she chastised, slapping his cheeks playfully. "It's late for you."

"Please, neither of us needs beauty sleep," he laughed a bit too loudly. One of the women snickered, holding onto the arm of another beside her. 'What lip,' the first one whispered.

But Sakura's head felt like cracking open and her eyes stung from the smoke. She twisted her hands out of his hold easily enough and ruffled his hair messy. "Still too young, kid."

A log slipped in the bonfire, cracking apart and sending spark high. Ladies and men alike shrieked then dissolved into giggles. Overhead the stars spun madder than before. Her head hurt.

"Look, they all fit!"

"Look at it, look up!"

"Look!"

The people around her clamored, and the men in their demon chaser masks came back from the edges to look up along with all the others. Someone had been playing music but that faded to an absent vibration of strings as hands went slack on the instruments.

Sakura looked up, up, and up, until there was nothing she could see but sky. Her fingers were cold and tingled at the tips but her insides were rolling with embers made out of honey wine.

The stars fit inside each other perfectly and all she could feel was a shrieking split in her head as the world tumbled under her and she fell into something that could have been sleep, but wasn't.

* * *

_"No trauma has discrete edges. Trauma bleeds. Out of wounds and across boundaries."_  
— Leslie Jamison,  
The Empathy Exams: Essays

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:This is the other half of the first chapter-something I can to split to keep it from being over 14K. I meant to get this cleaned up sooner but, ahhh! It's so late already and I just ran out of time. (I went four days without opening up my laptop this week.) 
> 
> I've got more chapters getting cleaned up and those should be out shortly. I'd love to hear what you think in a review. Talking with you has been the highlight at the end of my day. Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

The mountains that never moved were gone and no one was quite sure how. Reports about the shift in the land’s typography had come in a little after the Confluence celebration. Most of Nibieski used that night as an excuse to make the war a past tense thing. Too many had come home haunted, and ghosts in boots were never worth much. 

In addition to the missing mountains, sentry units had reported changes elsewhere in the land that made it a headache for those with titles to sort through. Someone found a canyon that smelled of burning flesh, crops were steadily being lost to ‘wolves’ who didn’t leave tracks, village girls were missing from their beds-both the married and the maids.

“I’ve heard of this before. It happens after a war when the common people perceive the princedom as weak. Half of these reports are little better than distractions meant to exhaust our manpower.” Shikamaru Nara looked up from the reports on his desk with a familiar scowl. “Which is why we were given this chore.”

“The Nibieski have won, shouldn’t it be the opposite?” Choji asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. “They won the war but we were both in birch colors a month ago and now we’re here. Some were not happy about how bloodless the take-over ended up.” He paused to turn a paper over and frown at what he saw on the backside before finishing his thought. “After four years of casualties some families wanted to see more heads roll.”

Both boys had been heirs to noble houses from the Brzozaor Birch Princedom, which meant that both boys had ended up being political casualties in the fallout of their prince’s surrender. Like lambs to the slaughter, their fathers had driven them into the capital of Nibieski and left them. It was a stipulation of surrender. Two of the four noble houses would be handed over and in exchange, the Brzoza prince would be allowed to stay on his throne with over half of his lands. 

Shikamaru Nara, a lazy genius, and Choji Akimichi, a mild mannered bear of a boy, had been easy scapegoats.

Choji glanced to the door of their room. It always remained unlocked, but closely guarded. They had been told with tight smiles and tighter handshakes that they were _treasured guests_ who could go and do as they pleased, but neither boy believed that.

Their work was also turning out to be a farce according to Shikamaru.

“I’ll help you sort these and we can take the least ridiculous ones to the Major later today. I think she’d appreciate to see our progress unbidden,” said Choji.

Shikamaru groaned and sank in his seat, slouching further than before. The navy uniform jacket wrinkled under his arms at they caught on the ends of the chair. “I’d rather not. Life will be easier if they think we’re incompetent.”

Choji couldn’t help but grin a little for the antics of his childhood friend. As brilliant and cunning as he was, Shikamaru was one of the laziest people he knew. It was a trait he, unfortunately, shared with his father. The Nara had a reputation for being as cunning as shadows and as slow as honey on the comb.

“I think they already know you’re not incompetent,” Choji said. “And it looks better if you submit _some_ work, even if it’s subpar. You want to make it look like you’re putting in some effort.”

“Why?” Shikamaru moaned with his eyes shut. “They’ll just give us more work.”

Choji looked back down at some of the files, turning them around so he could read the details. One was about children and it made his heart do something painful. “Maybe some of this work should be taken more seriously. You can rest if you want but I’m going to read and sort these for the Major.”

Shikamaru didn’t say anything, but turned his head into his arm and sighed until his shoulders lost their edges.

On one end of the table Choji stacked the reports of unnatural or unusual changes in the landscape or typography. At the other end of the table he put the reports about recovered bodies and roaming beast like the ones used to dining on bodies leftover from war. The other reports he had a harder time sorting. Everything was a mess left in the middle. The grain harvest that were disappearing were important because that would lead to famine, but so were the missing girls in villages with names he recognized.

A hand interrupted his vision and he looked up to see Shikamaru moving around some reports about missing mountains. When the Nara boy looked up his lids were still heavy from dozing but he met Choji’s stare. “These are key geographical locations for trade. If they’re being tampered with it will hurt plenty more than a rotten smelling canyon.” He moved some more files around. “Also these are from rural villages. Don’t bother with these.”

“But they’re missing their wives and daughters.”

“I’m sure plenty just ran away on their own once there was no longer a man to bring home food and goods.”

“And the children?”

Shikamaru huffed. “Kids wandering off into holes in the mountains? What’s so odd about that. Kids do dumb things like that all the time. Mothers are hysterical without reason.”

“I just think it’s odd. They said the cuts in the mountains were singing. This report said they heard the melody of a flute from one of them.”

“Choji, that’s the wind and an old wife’s imagination. They’re more superstitious the further out. Many of these reports come from the outskirts of nowhere. Who has ever heard of half these places?”

Choji was silent for a while, watching his friend undo plenty of the work in the middle before finally speaking up. “I thought you said you didn’t want to do too good a job. Aren’t you afraid they’ll give you more work?”

“It annoys me to watch you flounder at this. It’s painfully apparent you haven’t lost you naïveté. War made everyone else too hard or too bitter.”

Outside the sun was swollen and far further along than it had been when they first started looking at the reports. Yellow as an egg’s yoke everything seemed colored in honey shades that made Choji ache for home.

“We should get going. It’ll be too late soon,” he said to Shikamaru.

“She likes to work late, we’ll be fine.”

Choji wet his lips and stared longingly at the empty mead horn on the table. “It’s almost time for dinner.”

That made Shikamaru laugh. “Of course it is!”

Together the pair stacked all the reports in order of importance and left together, passing a casual sentry in the hallway who watched them poorly.

Major Samui would have been beautiful is she wasn’t so terrifying, but she was a major with plenty of brass medals on her chest so beauty wasn’t something she seemed concerned with. The cut of her corn yellow hair was almost as sharp as her cheekbones when she turned around to watch them come into her office. Her painted lips pulled down when she saw the wrinkles of Shikamaru’s unbuttoned uniform.

“Did you interrupt your nap for us?” she asked in frosty tones.

“I work best in squalor and it’s so hard to find anyone with a button out of place around here,” he answered drolly.“Here are those reports you wanted reviewed.”

She didn’t flinch when the thick stack dropped flat onto her desk but Choji did. It sounded too much like a gunshot.

The major made a sound that might have been dismissive or a simple trick of the ear. Between her thumb and forefinger she flipped through the first few reports, smiling when she recognized the ones at the top. Her smile only made Shikamaru glower. She looked too much like a cat with a mouse between her paws.

“What did you think about the reports of beasts in Grad and Śnieg, or the ones closer to home in the city of Fallfar?”

Choji held his tongue even though he recognized both tiny villages as ones that had been absorbed after the war. They were small and cold villages that loved the mountains dearly just like their devastated city of Mróz, the city in the frost fields where his ancestors were said to have once been giants.

“I’m no expert on beasts. They’re starving and want the type of meat they’ve tasted on the war fields. Things go bad after eating man meat.”

“But they’re a threat?”

“Not to us here.”

She glanced back at the stack of reports. “You put them close to the top, why?” 

He shrugged. “That sort of appetite never goes well for things in the wild. Those entire villages are susceptible if the beasts go mad.”

Samui tilted her chin back and looked both boys over, but spoke only for Shikamaru’s benefit. “And their loss would mean so much to our principality?”

Shikamaru looked off at a far wall, seemingly indifferent to her probing. “I don’t know. It sounded grizzly. Don’t think I’m good at this after only having two days to read most of these files. I’m not suited to such long mental labors.”

“I’m sure you’re not,” the Major scoffed.

Any lesser man might have reacted to the derision, but Shikamaru was committed to his mask of indifference so he didn’t so much as twitch. Samui took in a longer visual assessment of the boys before looking back down at the stack of reports they had turned in. She grabbed the whole stack in one hand, barely griping it all, and carried it over to a secondary table at the end of the room. A map lay unrolled and curling over the sides of the table, large enough for even the villages to have names. Only the middle most section or the Clasp of the continent where princedoms like Niebieski, Brzoza, and some of the northern Mornvein could be seen. Game pieces carved and polished out of stone sat atop different labels and landmarks.

“These reports of roaming beasts come from places you might be more familiar with than I. How credible do you believe the sources to be?” Samui asked with her back to them as she began to turn over papers and place new pieces onto the map based on what she read.

Choji saw Shikamaru glancing back at him but there was no desire in the gentler boy to start talking now.Speech had never been Choji’s strong suite.

Shikamaru kept his shoulders lowered and his tone disinterested as he responded. “I don’t think they imagined the blood and loss, but beasts are such a stretch to believe in.”

Choji watched her pull out more and more game pieces from a box connected to the side of the table. Choji recognized several different pieces from games his family played in his younger years. There was the nightmare, the heretic, the princess, the grasshopper, the criminal, and the crooked king all scattered across the board in sometimes clusters sometimes patterns. The pieces were from a child’s game, but they looked too expensive for adolescent tastes.

“How well do you know the town of _Wiatr_? It has had several reports of the same delusion and we considered sending more men over to investigate, but want to practice caution coming to the aid of a newly acquired territory. I’ve nominated both of you for an expedition.”

“Nominated?” Choji echoed, speaking up for the first time. “What does that mean?”

Samui played with the polished head of a quartz unicorn in her hand. “That means if my Prince so wishes it, you will be gone within the week to prove some usefulness.”

The boys exchanged a look but it was Shikamaru who spoke up. “Only to the Wiatr, or are there other places we must travel as well?” When he spoke there was no awkward over exaggeration to the old name in a traditional, forgotten language.

“I suggested several stops. Once I hear confirmation you will know how long we might be away. I’ll have someone hold any mail you might receive here for when we come back.”

“ _We_?” Shikamaru echoed.

Samui looked up with a look as bland as the winter deserts of rolling snow hills and blinding white sky. She did not possess a face fit for humor.

A knock from the door came before the Major could reposed, though it appeared her stare might have been all the response she would spare for Shikamaru. “Enter,” she barked once.

The door opened wide enough for two officers in smart navy uniforms to enter, one female, the other male. Choji needed an extra moment to remember what the bars on their jacket fronts meant, but Shikamaru knew all that and more with a glance.They were both staff captains, which meant they were under Samui’s oversight, but not by much. Choji thought that unusual since both looked young enough to be no older than he or Shikamaru, but then they were both the same as Niebieski’s crown prince, dark skinned and gold eyed like the people across the eastern sea.

“Omoi, Karui, I have assignments for you,” the Major spoke, half turning back to the map with all the game pieces set up. She waved dismissively at Shikamaru and Choji. “You know our guests, they will be escorting you through the new territories. Please remember to rely on them to help ease any potential tensions.” She looked more pointedly to the girl who seemed to stiffen like a chastised, but obedient child.

“Of course,” the staff captain hastily replied, pressing her heels together.

The boy’s expression shifted slow, so slow that Choji almost missed it. “Where will be be heading to?”

Samui put down the game piece she had been holding in her hand, reaching instead for a packet of paper somewhere in the middle of Shikamaru’s file. “Nowhere close, pack accordingly. As the name suggests, it is a windy place and communication lines are poor that far west of our old boarders.”

“And our time frame?” the other staff captain asked.

“Tomorrow. You four should have dinner together, get acquainted. You’ll have plenty of time to bicker if you get off on the wrong foot.” She reached into her trouser pocket and pulled out a single coin, larger and more brilliant than the standard cuts. “Kari,” The major then flipped the coin into the female staff captain’s awaiting hand. “Make it work.”

She nodded, lips pressed tight and then crossed one arm over her chest, bending over it the same way Omoi did. Shikamaru and Choji shared a look between themselves before both bending at the waist, arms pressed to their sides. The major didn’t seem to care, since she had turned back to her map, dismissing them all with a wave over her shoulder. 

-

In addition to the staff captains, Omoi and Karui, their group included the Major at the head and three other privates who needed to make themselves useful now that the war was over and no one needed them as fodder. Choji still tried to remember their names and ask them questions through the morning leg of their trip. He didn’t make much headway, but Shikamaru begrudgingly admitted that no harm had come out of his kindness.

“It’s still a waste.”

“Maybe, but it’s better than the opposite.”

Shikamaru shook his head and muttered something under his breath about mothers and moral lessons.

A steam engine took them to the boarder of the Niebieski princedom, and from there technology and machinery seemed to regress to more familiar paces for Choji and Shikamaru. They took horses to the first rest stop, and then continued on the same way for much of the next day.

Only once did someone make a comment about the means of travel. It was after the first day riding horses, the staff captain Omoi had dismounted and made a comment to Karui. “No wonder they lost the war. Who still fights with horses and swords?”

Choji had heard but pretended he hadn’t. Shikamaru stood tall between the dismounted steeds and made sure Omoi saw him there, blank faced and perfectly capable of hearing everything.

Choji remembered the stories about how the Blue City, Niebieski, had progressed in a single generation more than most princedoms had in a millennium in terms of technology and machinery. His mother had told him the stories when he was young to teach him humility in spite of his lineage. When the red wood ships crossed the ocean and brought the dark skinned **???- people** , they had settled in a starving, staggering princedom with an infertile legacy and no one remembered what it was like before their arrival. Along with their red wood ships, the **???- people** brought their science and their technology, something a land without food desperately needed. Within a child’s age, Niebieski, the princedom where princes with corn yellow hair and bluer than blue eyes, gave up their throne for food and a future. 

Niebieski was famed for their machinery and factories where things were assembled by hundreds of hands for hundreds of thousands of people, but to Choji the steel and smoke had always unsettled him too much to consider it a comfortable place for living. They didn’t starve, but they didn’t season their foods either, so what was the point in that? Maybe that’s the difference between conquerors and settlers, but Choji didn’t think it should be.

As they traveled Choji felt something like fear in his heart when he thought of his best friend and how well Shikamaru seemed to adapt to their new life in the blue princedom. Unlike Choji, Shikamaru was keen and could unpuzzle machines enough to understand them. They didn’t confuse or frighten him and the new city didn’t shake him like it had Choji. Shikamaru had admitted he hated their circumstances, and had no desire to assimilate, but he was as crafty as the shadows and Choji knew that it was only a matter of time before someone plucked the young Nara up and raised him under another houses’ banner. Shikamaru might despise it, but he knew how to survive and had no issue in bowing his head if it meant hiding his fangs.

What would Choji do then? He couldn’t even remember the names of the three privates who wanted nothing to do with the ‘Brzoza prizes,’ so how was he going to get along in this strange new world?

Choji missed his mother enough to cry but he didn’t. He closed his eyes, bent his head and tried to remember something good, but that just made him hungry.It took a little more effort to find a happy memory that didn’t involve food or his family. What he wouldn’t give to feast with them again.

When the group reached the city built on hills high enough to catch the breath of the world, the staff officers suddenly hung back and looked to Shikamaru and Choji like something more was expected of them. Samui stayed at the front, but deferred enough to the pair.

“There is a house waiting for us. We will stop to rest there and then meet with the individuals filing reports,” Samui explained as the conscripted home came into view. “I’d like the two of you to find for us the lodgings of the village leader.”

“And we’re supposed to just know that?” Shikamaru asked with enough attitude to made Choji hold his breath.

“You’re supposed to be resourceful,” the Major answered easily enough. “Your fathers said you would be useful, so don’t make them liars.”

There were attendants who took their horses and while the others settled in, Choji and Shikamaru were allowed to wander on their own, unguarded and unwatched. Both boys knew better than to try something though. Samui hadn’t mentioned their fathers without her reasons.

“Do you know where we should go?” Choji asked from behind Shikamaru.

Wiatr wasn’t a small village, but it was sprawling with plenty of spaces between their shops and houses. Tiny paper windmills hung between flags and stretched between housetop roofs. Summer had all but ended and the Autumn celebrations were just around the corner.

“Don’t know, but we should get some food first. You haven’t eaten in hours, you must be starving.”

Choji felt too happy for his smile. “That’s the best idea you’ve ever had. I _knew_ you were a genius.”

“Yeah, the food might actually be edible here. What do you smell?”

“Something with seasonings.”

“That’s perfect, I’m sure our housemates won’t begrudge us if we detour a bit and don’t bring them anything back.”

Choji almost snorted. “Don’t you think they’d hate it if we did? They don’t like our food.”

It didn’t take long to find a bakery and a pub. Shikamaru thought the pub might fare them better, but Choji wanted bread too much to pass up the bakery and he could smell the rum syrup and buttery egg through the partly opened door.

Choji led the way, pushing open the front doorway the rest of the way and rattling the metal charms that hung in the doorway as a means to signal customers. It made Choji think of his mother, stories, and superstition.

“New faces, haven’t see you lot around here,”the older woman behind the counter greeted. “I hope you’re hungry.”

A boy that looked only a few years younger than Choji and Shikamaru stepped out from a back room to see who had come in, but ducked back out of sight before Choji could see more of his face.

“Famished for food that’s flavored,” Choji cheered. “Could we get four loves of the braided egg bread and whatever you have in the brown paper bags here?”

The woman grinned and reached over the counter to pick up one of the packages to untie for his perusal. Choji felt his heart flutter with the rich aroma of sweet sugar and rum. Even through the brown paper he had scented one of his favorite baked goods from all the way outside.

“How many of those do you have?”

“Not many, it’s the late end of the day for bread unless you need it for dinner. I’ve got two loaves and plan on having more tomorrow,” she explained, wrapping the sweet bread back up.

Choji reached out and gently set his hand down next to the package to gesture for her to stop. She paused to look up into his face and wait for his words.

“I’ll take whatever you have left, please.”

She grinned wide enough to wrinkle the skin under her eyes. “My sort of boy, growing in all the best ways. I’ll have these up for you. Anything else I can get for your friend?”

Shikamaru made a face so pinched it might have been disbelief if it weren’t so funny to look at. “He just bought two whole loaves and four servings of egg bread? What made you think none of that was for me?”

“Is it?” she countered with a hand on her hip.

Choji and Shikamaru shared a look that made the shorter boy sigh and mutter under his breath. “No,” Shikamaru admitted. “But I don’t need anything just yet, apologies auntie.”

She smirked at his red ears and bent neck. “Sweet thing, and so polite. Why haven’t I seen either of you around here before?”

The answer was obvious, but she was probing for something more specific while still being polite.

“We’ve traveling around to different towns and villages to investigate claims and complaints about unusual behavior in the surrounding area. You wouldn’t know anything about something upsetting the local poultry?”

The woman’s demeanor shifted, but not so dramatically that it stood out. “Yes, I’ve heard about that. It’s driving up the price of eggs around here. Supposedly it’s a wild dog, but it’s been coming into coops that are locked and latched. Funny business there, but nothing worth investigating, least not officially. We’ll deal with our own.”

“Thought so. Yeah, I guess it’s just a formality. I don’t see what good either of us would be at catching an animal.”

“It’s just youths dealing with their aging in worse ways than usual.”

She reached down and grabbed the other package of rum syrup bread from in front of the counter. She picked out four of the braided egg breads and tied all of them up in brown paper for Choji to take. When he reached for them she didn’t detract her hands right away, even though the money was already on the counter.

“You don’t look like the boys from the blue city.” Her voice was soft.

“We’re from Brzoza,” Choji heard himself answer even thought he hadn’t thought about it. The words were just out before he could help it. “Or, what used to be Brzoza, before its assimilation.”

“Same as us then. You also got caught up in paying the war spoils.” She glanced sideways at Shikamaru’s keen eyes and then back down at the bread she hadn’t yet handed over. “Is that the real issue for their visit?”

“As far as we’ve been told,” Shikamaru answered. “We were sent out ahead to find whoever issued the official request, the man in charge. If there is something we can do to help, I think we will.”

“Then you’d best see our village head, Lady Chiyo. Her grandson is a carpenter and is away, so she’ll be alone with her brother. The both of them aren’t the easiest to talk to without Sasori there to interpret things, but it’s as good a start as any.”

“Where could we find their residence?” Choji asked politely. He had gathered the bread into his arms.

She led the two to her door and stood outside to give them directions. Chiyo’s house wouldn’t be easy to miss but the village sprawled in confusing spurts and turns. The roads seemed to turn just as readily as the pinwheels in the wind. By the time Choji had finished his second braided egg bread, Shikamaru had finally found for them the house painted with flakes of old paint. Time had rubbed the pictures away and faded all the colors. As large and long as the house seemed from the outside, it couldn’t manage to appear impressive. Chiyo’s home looked neglected.

“You think the Major wants us to report back to her first or speak with this village head ourself?” Choji asked around the bread still in his mouth.

Shikamaru groaned and threw his head back but marched up the pathway to the door and knocked. When he looked back to see Choji’s grin he hiked his shoulders and mumbled. “It’s less troublesome than going back to the house with the rest of our traveling party.”

“I wouldn’t mind actually going out and looking for some more places to eat once it gets later.”

“Did you eat all the egg bread?”

Choji offered up the last braid and Shikamaru pulled off a chunk at the end but didn’t take anything more than that. Too many minutes passed without anyone coming to the door. Shikamaru knocked again, louder than before, but the door never opened.

“I could have sworn I heard someone whispering on the other side about pretending to play dead until we go away. Should we just let ourselves in?” Shikamaru asked. He tried the handle, rattling it loudly.

This time Choji heard it too. An old man’s voice, as weathered as the flaking paint was arguing weakly with someone else. “If it was someone we knew they would have just let themselves in. Maybe it’s-ow-ow.”

“We’re letting ourselves in,” Shikamaru called, unlatching the front door and lifting it up when it stuck on its swing. With a creak light painted the interior hall in brighter shades of sandalwood. A pair of hunched elders froze like cats caught in the light. They were both so hunched and wrinkled it was hard to tell them apart. Both wore the same black cloak like dresses popular among the Brzoza elderly with long gaping sleeves that were still swinging in spite of their mirrored stillness.

“Oh look, someone is home,” Shikamaru dryly commented.

Choji swallowed half of what was left of his mouthful of bread and then waved. “Hello.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wohoo, the next part with Choji's POV is out and I'm excited because I've never written him like this before. Sakura is the central character, but Choji is also a primary character, (followed by Yugito,) and each has a unique perspective that helps build up the world. They'll all meet up soon, but this is also a newer style for me to try out in my writing. 
> 
> Some world building notes:  
> Niebieski principality or the blue principality is where Yugito is from and won the 4 year war against the Brzoza principality. Sakura lives in Chmury, a village, that was transferred from Brzoza to Niebieski. She started the war wearing white for Brzoza, but her side lost to Niebieski.  
> Choji and Shikamaru come from noble houses in Brzoza but can no longer go back. 
> 
> There are no kings or kingdoms, only High Princes of their own principalities. There is an emperor over everyone and everything, but he doesn't act except as a figurehead.


	4. Chapter 4

 

A young boy with half his face painted in purple streaks served them warmed wine and left to go eavesdrop if his franticly darting eyes were any indicator of intention. Choji thought he heard other footsteps elsewhere in the house, but didn’t see anyone else.

“So, you were the one who submitted the request but you weren’t willing to answer the door?” Shikamaru clarified. He had sipped his wine only enough to be polite and then set it far from his reach on the small table between them.

“We didn’t think you’d bother to actually come,” the woman called Chiyo snapped. “Haven’t you got better things to do than catch a chicken thief?”

Shikamaru’s tone was as bland as his expression when he answered. “No. Absolutely nothing.”

Chiyo cackled and then looked to her brother, a wrinkle of a man named Ebizō, called Ebi by his spirited sister. “He thinks he’s funny. He must not be from the grease gutter of a city we now have to pay taxes too. You’re not getting any until next year, by the way! We just paid tribute to the other prince last month. You’ll have to wait until our next harvest.”

Choji knew that was a lie as well as Shikamaru but didn’t press it. That wasn’t their problem.

“You said it was a chicken thief, but in the report it was described as a ‘wild unknown animal that was posing a threat to the inhabitants.’ What made you change your mind?” Choji asked, shifting the brown paper bags on his lap so that they didn’t slide off his thighs.

“No one’s seen it and the gates are latched. The first few were messy enough to believe dogs, but since then even the huts latched up and locked are left bloody for the morning. Dogs can’t work doors, boy.”

“Could someone have been careless?” Choji tried again.

“Of course the could have been, but they weren’t. I said they were watched, didn’t I?” she snapped. It seemed words only came out of her moth if they were quick and sharp. “No animal gets by these eyes unseen. And besides that there were no tracks. What animal is smart enough for that?”

“Even humans leave tracks,” Shikamaru cut in.

“Not the clever ones.”

“Wh-what my si-sister is trying to convey, is our gratitude at your unnecessary arrival. We have already sent letters asking our neighbors for council. We can see to this ourselves.”

“Why did you submit the report in the first place then?” Shikamaru pressed, eyes darting between each wrinkled face. “Or was it someone else?”

Chiyo sucked her bottom lip into her mouth angrily and her beady black eyes seemed to disappear into the folds of her wrinkles when she glared. It was still unsettling and made Choji squirm.

“You’re a bit too keen for your shoes, boy.”

“We only mean to help,” Choji quickly interjected, scooting forward in his chair to draw up closer to Shikamaru. Ebizō was also reaching for his sister to tug her back.“We came all this way, let us at least try and deal with the problem.”

“Aren’t you going to charge us for this service? No thank you. We’ll get by just fine on our own.”

“Chiyo, they’re here already. We can’t-“

“We do whatever I want, Ebi, don’t tell me I can’t!”

Her brother shrank back and hid behind the folds of his long sleeves.

Chiyo turned back to glare at the boys, directing most of her animosity Shikamaru’s way. “We’ll get by just fine. Move along or do whatever you want. We’re not here to fill your fat purses.” She lifted her chin and screamed deep into the corners of the house. “Kankuro, see them out!”

Choji stood and turned. A moment later the same boy from before came into the room, eyes just as wide as before. He bobbed a bow towards Chiyo once and then waved Choji and Shikamaru to the front door. Neither Ebizō nor Chiyo got up out of their seats to see them out.

Kankuro stopped on the threshold and bobbed to the two boys once before half turning to go back inside. He paused and looked back at them and Shikamaru saw his opportunity.

“What is it? You know who sent that summons, don’t you?”

Kankuro bowed his head. “It was Lady Chiyo’s grandson, Sasori. He was the one you were s-supposed to speak with but he’s in the woods gathering timber today. Come back in the morning and he’ll be here to show you the sites.”

“Why didn’t she want us to help? We weren’t going to charge her for services,” Choji asked.

“She doesn’t like outsiders, any of them, no matter what princedom they’re from. It’s not personal.”

“I could tell. She seemed like a real charmer,” Shikamaru drawled. He grunted when Choji elbowed him in the side. Choji was always gentle, but he was a growing giant with more weight then he knew how to handle. Even his gentle jabs could unset lesser men.

“We can come back in the morning then. Can you tell us anything else that might be helpful?”

He glanced down the way they had come and then looked back to them. “It’s true what she said about the chicken huts being watched, but she lied about no one seeing them. My brother saw it, but I was right next to him and _I_ couldn’t see it. He’d be able to tell you what it looks like but he’s only ten.”

“Where is your brother now?” Choji asked.

Kankuro nodded back towards the house. “Inside. He’s Lady Chiyo’s apprentice. She’s teaching him how to read.”

Choji felt the way his blood moved in his veins, suddenly too cold to flow. He spun on his heel and took in the faded paint on the outside of the house again, this time imagining the pictures and stories they might tell. He thought he recognized the Sickle Weasel in the harvesting fields, a man wearing a necklace made out of seven keys, and a tower made out of bones. He recognized the paintings and knew with some deep misery that Chiyo wasn’t just the village’s leader, she had once been their story keeper.

For once Choji realized something before Shikamaru.

“Does she also tell him stories?” Choji asked, looking to the teenager with new eyes. Now he recognized the purple paint on his face for the wards against evil it really was.

Kankuro shook his head stiffly. “No, she doesn’t do that anymore. Her grandson was supposed to be the next one but, he….well, he’s the reason you’re here so maybe that says something about where his faith is.”

Shikamaru leaned down a little more. “Hey kid, would you be willing to help us talk with this brother of yours? If he’s seen this chicken eater it’s the best lead we’ve got.”

The teenager shook his head. “Lady Chiyo won’t allow it.”

“That’s fine,” Choji answered quickly, interjected before Shikamaru could complain. “We’ll be here in the morning.”

Kankuro nodded and then ducked back inside, latching the door behind him. By the time they had left it was already late afternoon and the first blushes of evening were turning the woods a brighter shade of orange thanks to the setting sun. Shikamaru insisted on stopping to eat at an earlier spotted pub before the pair finished their trek back to the house that served as their base.

Karui was in the hallway when they entered, pulling apart a small side arm to lay on a silver tray under a mirror. She had a cleaning kit out next to the tray that was open and smelling of use.

“You finally found your way back. And here we were wondering if we’d have to send word back to your fathers. Were you able to glean anything of use or are we allowed to head back now?”

She watched them enter while her hands moved deftly through the reassembly process, as it was a motion well memorized by her muscles. Until the war, Choji had never seen such small guns. His family only had the long powder filled rifles that couldn’t get off more than one shot before needing to be refilled from the horn of black powder.

Karui seemed so at ease with the small pistol.

“The Major is in the kitchen. You two should report back instead of dawdling there,” she said.

Shikamaru grunted but headed off in that direction ahead of Choji who was as faithful to follow as a shadow. At the largest table opposite the kitchen the Major sat with a scattering of letters cut open and unfolded on the table. Several of the envelops were stamped with military seals.

“We spoke with the village elder woman. She said she never requested our help and was as forthcoming with details as you could expect someone in her position to be,” Shikamaru began without waiting for the Major to look up and acknowledge their entrance. When she didn’t look away from her letter he added, “Does this mean we get to leave or are you going to make us stay here?”

“You’re Brzoza, you’ll find a way to get to her. We stay until the animal is caught.”

“How do you know it’s an animal?” Choji asked.

She looked up from her letter for the first time to glare at the larger of the two boys. “What else do you expect it to be. It’s too much for the pranks of a youth. Children adapt. After a few dead chickens they would have changed and gone after something else, but animals are consistent.” Her eyes switched to Shikamaru. “Do what you can with the locals. We’ll be here for another week.”

And there was no arguing the point, so both boys excused themselves and retired for the night.

-

In the morning they didn’t find Gaara or Sasori but managed to track down some of the bloodied chicken coops that hadn’t been cleaned out. Some had been washed, but the blood was too deep and dark to completely erase. 

“Not neat enough for a child.” Shikamaru pointed to the long trail of blood that splattered in several places. “Look at how it struggled. Do animals wait for their pray to stop thrashing to kill?”

Choji hummed. “It’s still a lot for an animal no one could see, unless it’s not an animal.”

Shikamaru stood from where he had been crouching and groaned low in his throat while watching the light dance in Choji’s eyes. “Not another fairytale.”

“Do you remember the blink-blink monster? The one that was invisible when it stood still and could only move when you blinked? It would explain why only the story keeper’s apprentice was able to see it.”

“Blink-blink monster? Choji, you sound ridiculous.”

The taller of the two boy flushed behind his ears. “I can’t remember the real name for it, but we called it a blink-blink monster. You remember those stories.”

“From when we were five and six! They were just stories. Don’t entertain such myths.” Shikamaru looked back at the blood trail and then muttered low, “And they were called **wolpertingers** , not blink monsters.”

Choji smiled to himself. “I like the blink monster title better.”

Shikamaru looked ready to complain again but someone calling to them from the fence drew his attention away. A tall redhead was vaulting himself over the fence with what looked like an intention to intercept. The two boys exchanged a look and Choji mouthed ‘ _Sasori_?’ with a shrug before Shikamaru started forward.

“You’re the ones they sent to investigate our infestation problem?” the man asked once he was close enough to not need to shout.

Shikamaru extended his arm and the redhead clasped it in traditional Brzoza fashion. “I’m Shikamaru Nara and this is Choji Akamichi, we’re the ones running the legwork of this investigation. Are you the one who wrote the request, Sasori?”

“I am. I hear you spoke with my grandmother so I apologize for that. I hope her brush off has not deterred you from investigating further. Two other homes are financially strapped because of their loss.”

“How many chickens in one night did they lose?” Shikamaru asked.

“Three the first time, and then a week later they lost another four. That’s half of their clutch. Whatever is feeding on the birds isn’t slacking. Every three or four nights someone loses something,” Sasori explained. Up close Choji noticed the young man wasn’t as tall or young as he had first assumed. 

“Has it been anything other than just birds?” Choji asked, remembering the stories about the monsters and their appetite for little else.

“Not so far, but its only a matter of time before we run out of chicken dinner.”

Shikamaru shot Choji an exasperated look before addressing Sasori again. “Do you know of neighboring settlements having this problem?”

Sasori thought for a moment and then nodded. “Only one other has incurred some loss but no one has been hit as hard as we have. Baba thinks we have a curse.”

Shikamaru huffed in good humor when Sasori rolled his eyes, but Choji just looked for the pinwheels that were missing from the chicken hut.

The _wolpertinger_ creature came in many forms, and only the oldest and strongest could hide in between a man’s blinks. Few things could deter one, but he wondered if the pinwheels turning in the wind weren’t one of those things. Some creatures shrank from silver, a pure substance, while other burned from the touch of iron or anything made by human hands.

“The boy named Gaara, he said he saw it,” Choji interrupted, looking back at the other two. “Can we speak to him?”

Sasori’s face was already shadowed thanks to messy bangs and tired eyes, but he seemed to darken further at the mention of the boy’s name.

“I wouldn’t trust the words of that child. My baba has filled his head with too many stories and he spouts about things no one else can see. He said he saw something but his brother was there and didn’t see anything. You’re better off not wasting your time on a liar. Let me take you to the other houses instead.” Sasori glanced between the pair of them and tried to brighten his voice with a smile. “I’ll treat you to lunch when the hour comes.”

Choji hated to admit it, but there was little he could say after that. They had eaten breakfast no less than two hours ago, but already he was hungry for more. Ever since leaving Brzoza he seemed perpetually famished.

When they returned back to the mansion they were sharing for their stay the Major was gone but her subordinates were there to take a verbal report to pass along, allowing both boys to retire in peace.

The next day wasn’t much different.

On the third day Sasori and Shikamaru together worked on narrowing down locations for a possible attack. They both agreed that one would happen that night and both thought it would be on one of the huts already struck. The animal was starting to return to coops it had previously visited with predictable faithfulness. The order was a bit out of place, but other than that, the pattern was there.

“Why do you think the other chicken houses haven’t been hit?” Choji asked Shikamaru as they double checked for breaks in the fence and holes to burrow under.

“Smell, position, proximity to activity, I don’t know, it could be anything. I have guesses but you can only guess so much. We still haven’t seen this creature if there is one.”

“You doubt there to really be a beast feasting on chickens?” Choji asked.

“I’m not saying that, just…I don’t trust anything until I see it.”

Choji thought back to the mother who had lost both her son and husband in the skirmishes between the princedoms they had interviews yesterday. Her grief at yet another tragedy was something clear to see. 

“It has to be something that’s crawling over, there are no breaks in the fence for something to get in,” Shikamaru announced, standing and brushing dirt from his pants. “I should go update the Major.”

Choji scratched absently at his chin. “I might stop somewhere before joining you.”

“More pastries?”

Choji flushed. “What else should I be spending my salary on?” The blush made his neck itch, prompting him to rub the irritated skin in nervous habit. “Besides, I’m hungry.”

Shikamaru sighed a bit too dramatically to not be teasing. “If only you were going because there was a fair bread baking maiden to serve you rolls. I think I’d understand you better then, but no, it’s just the old lady.”

Choji barely held back a snort. “Like you’re any better.”

Shikamaru shoved his fists deep into his pockets and turned to walk away. Choji started to follow him out to the road but stopped when he caught a flash of red darting behind the corner of a house. That had been too short to belong to Sasori, but redheads were few and far in between in terms of villagers.

Choji’s feet turned as if on their own and he found himself rounding the side of the house to find a frozen stiff boy with the greenest eyes blown wide in surprise or maybe fear. He had a stuffed doll between his fists that was wrinkled in a deathtrap as he shivered.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Choji whispered quickly bending down to kneel in the dirt. Even on his knees he was far taller than the child, so he forced his shoulders to hunch. “I didn’t see you there. Are you hiding too?”

The boy shook his head back and forth, mouth glued shut.

“Were you looking for someone?” Choji guessed in a voice as soft as moth wings.

The boy swallowed but shook his head again.

“Ah, I guess not. There was no one here but a bunch of strangers. You probably don’t know who I am. My name is Choji Akamachi and my favorite thing to do is eat and my second favorite thing to do is make food I can eat later. I was actually going to go find some pastries to eat, but can’t remember the way.” Choji forced himself to sigh dramatically. “I guess I’ll just have to wander the village all day long until I find someone.”

Choji took a moment to look the boy over once more. He was small as children tended to be, but Choji got the impression that this boy was small even for his age. His wrists were thin and his eyes were heavy beneath the black paint meant to protect him from evil things. He was painted like Kankuro had been, just in a different color.

“You wouldn’t happen to be Kankuro’s little brother, Gaara?”

The boy inhaled sharply and Choji knew he had guessed correctly. Gaara looked too frightened to speak, but hadn’t run away yet, which was a good sign. The child just needed a little something extra to feel comfortable enough to open up.

“Hey Gaara, I wondered if you could help me out with something.”

Choji leaned over and pat down the dirt between them before drawing a shape with his smallest finger. He tried making it look like a fox with antlers, but the drawing was crude and the teeth were lost to the poor medium. Choji grunted and pat down the drawing before trying again. The next drawing wasn’t much better but it would have to do.

“You saw it?” Gaara gasped in a voice so small and thin it was barely better than a breeze in Choji’s ear. He looked up to see Gaara staring wide eyed at the drawing in the dirt.

“Does it look like this? I thought it might be a blink monster.”

Gaara wrinkled his nose and the wide eyed look melted away as some of the stiffness left his posture. “They’re not called blink monsters, they’re _wolpertinger_ and this one is the mama. She has a lot more horns and two tails.”

Choji hummed and the tried to draw another beside the first fox tail. It looked objectively worse but Gaara didn’t seem to care. “Like this?”

“No, you’re horrible at drawing, but at least you know that it is _something_. No one else can see it.” 

“I wasn’t able to see it since we got here because it hasn’t come back, but I might be able to see it tonight. My mom used to tell me stories about how the strongest ones were invisible when they were still unless you already could see them. Only when you blinked did they move and become visible.”

“Yeah, that’s the mamas. She takes back the chickens for her nest but Sasori yelled at me when I told Baba.” Gaara held up his stuffed animal. “Baba yelled back at him and there was so much shouting.”

“I’m sorry you had to hear that. It must have been really scary.”

Gaara shrugged. “I’m not allowed out anymore. Baba says it might be dangerous until a Bogatyr comes to deal with it, but you don’t look like a very good Bogatyr even if you’re big like one.” Gaara squinted and then stepped back. “How big are you?”

Choji pushed up and stood to his full height, feeling comfortable enough to throw his shoulders back and adapt the posture his father was so proud of. He was taller than he was last year and didn’t doubt he would grow a little more before he stopped, but at his full height he was a good head and shoulder taller than the backs of most work horses. To a child he was a giant.

Gaara had to crane his neck back to see all of Choji and eventually ended up stumbling back a few feet to see better without losing his sight in the sunlight. “You’re big. Are you a Bogatyr?”

The question made Choji chuckle. Only children still asked about magical knights. “I don’t think so, I’m just tall…and round like one. But, I am going to try and help out here, that’s what I want to do. Gaara, do you think there is something you could help me with?”

Gaara shook his head quickly, holding up his toy to hide behind. “No, I can’t. I’m not supposed to go outside unless it’s safe and right now isn’t safe, Baba said. I have to wait until the Bogatyr makes it all better.”

“Am I not allowed to try and make it better?”

Gaara frowned. “Baba already called someone else. That’s why she got so mad at Sasori. A Bogatyr is going to come and save us, you’ll see.”

“That sounds great. Until that happens, do you think you could show me where I could buy something sweet to eat?” Choji crouched down again and offered Gaara his hand over the terrible drawing in the dirt.

Gaara looked down at the hand and then at the dirt drawing underneath it before glancing back up into Choji’s face, seeing something new there. “I guess I could do that much, since you’re trying to help us.” Gaara took Choji’s hand and, though he had to reach up high, led him by the hand to the same bakery Choji had been frequenting every day since his arrival.

The woman behind the counter smiled secretly to herself as she watched one of the smallest members of the village lead in, arguably, the tallest person in the village. Choji knew they made an odd sight, but it was the most open Gaara had seemed since they met so he didn’t mind it.

“My usual please,” Choji asked in a voice too meek for his stature.

He started to pull the money out of his pocket when he noticed Gaara’s transfixed stare. Nothing seemed more interesting to the little redhead than the glazed honey braids.

“And could you add one extra for my friend here, please?” Choji requested, finally pulling free the proper amount.

“I’m not his friend,” Gaara pouted. He watched as the bread was prepared and put into a brown paper bag and fidgeted before admitting a quiet, ‘thank you’ under his breath. Choji just chuckled. 

As soon as the bread was in his hands Gaara took off like a dart for the door, racing out and down the rest of the road withouta proper goodbye. He shouted his thanks over his shoulder but didn’t look back until he was so far he was barely visible. At the end of the road he turned and waved his paper bag and stuffed animal over his head and then turned again and took off the rest of the way home.

-

That night it wasn’t just Shikamaru and Choji who crouched low and waited from their angles. The Major and Karui were positioned on different huts along with Sasori, but Omoi stayed with the boys while being joined by Kankuro. Together the four watched the coop from each angle, waiting for the birds inside to stir or something else to move in the night.

When the grasses behind them rustled Shikamaru and Choji nearly jumped.

“Gaara, what are you doing here?” Kankuro demanded. “Baba will kill you if she finds out. No, she’ll kill us if she finds out. You’re not supposed to be out when it’s not safe,” the older brother hissed.

“You can’t see it, you need me,” the younger redhead countered. He had come dressed for the night in dark, baggy clothes, and there was no sign of his stuffed animal.

“That’s not an issue. We’ll be fine,” Kankuro tried again, looking to Choji and Shikamaru for support.

“No you won’t,” Gaara grumbled while crawling up closer to Choji. “Shut up and got back to where you were hiding before.”

Kankuro sputtered. “I’m not going to let you-!”

“Can it,” Omoi cut in, voice too hard for argument. “The kid stays where we can keep an eye on him. Go back to your places. We’re not here to hang out.”

Kankuro and Shikamaru crawled backwards into their corners while Omoi returned to his. Choji stayed where he was with Gaara, pistol ready but useless in his hands. It was a while longer before Gaara spoke up again.

“The wolpertinger don’t like the pinwheels or anything that turns in the wind, that’s why they come back to the chicken huts with no decorations.”Gaara pointed with one of his child sized fingers to the bare face of the coop.

“Shikamaru noted that, but he didn’t think it was important. How did you know this? I’ve never heard it said before in the stories about the blink-I mean wolpertinger creature.”

“You wouldn’t. Those stories are only for the story keepers. They’re the only ones who get to know how to do some things. Baba Chiyo told me so. I _also_ know how to trap them if you want me to.”

“Why would she tell that to someone like you? You’re just a child.”

Gaara huffed and his cheeks inflated with color. “I’m not just a kid. I’m going to be the story keeper one day. She said so. It’s because I can see the things Sasori couldn’t. He hates me now but I don’t care. I never liked him anyway.”

There had been no story keeper in the city where Choji grew up. If he remembered correctly, a neighboring town had claimed to have one that might take in children to teach writing and reading to, but it was increasingly rare to find a town or village with someone who still kept to the old ways. The same was true for where Shikamaru grew up.

“You’re going to memorize a hundred stories then?” Choji asked.

“Over one hundred. Chiyo knows two hundred and twelve. Plus, she has lots of books with facts that aren’t in stories. I’ll get all of those to look at one day too.”

Choji glanced back up at the chicken hut and then down at the slight red haired boy beside him, better hidden by the grass than any of them.“Okay, then how do we go about trapping this thing?”

“It doesn’t like iron or metal or anything from the earth that’s been purified or refined. If you have a pure enough material you’ll be able to trap it by just laying bars of it on the ground in a circle.”

“Did you bring anything like that?”

There was a beat of silence before Gaara sputtered. “I’m not supposed to do that part, I just tell you stuff! It doesn’t matter. You can kill it with a metal bullet as long as you hit it somewhere important, same as any animal. I can see it, I can tell you where to aim I guess.”

“You think I’m that good of a shot?”

“It won’t move if you stare at it. It only moves when you blink so its no harder than hitting a rock.”

Choji bit the inside of his cheek and held back his comment about not being able to even hit a rock with such a small gun. It wasn’t a rifle, it didn’t have the support or aim he would need to line up a perfect shot. Maybe if he went back-

His thoughts broke with the clamor of the first hens and Gaara tensed, seeing nothing but sensing the change like a shift in the wind. The hair on the back of Choji’s arms stood up under his jacket and he could feel his spine tingle like before a storm.

“It’s coming. Watch,” Gaara hissed, crawling closer.

Choji readied his pistol and looked for a patch of grass that bent or dirt that tracked. It was likely he wouldn’t be able to see an invisible creature if that’s what it really was. He hadn’t been born with the sight. He had never seen anything out of the ordinary, so he dug in and waited for something he could recognize.

But his breath stopped the same second as Gaara’s. It was an empty post of fence one moment and then in the next moment a creature barely bigger than a fox and crouched with the grace of one stood poised, shoulders hunched and antlered head bowed. It’s red maw twitched slightly as it held itself taught as a bowstring.

“There, atop the forth post from the corner, I see it!” Gaara hissed, pointing to the top of the fence post. “Shoot now.”

But Choji blinked and it was gone like a flash, steps too light to leave tracks as it made a beeline for the opening. They all heard the hens screech and cry out as feathers went flying. Choji swallowed and leveled his gun, afraid of how bad his arm shook.

Gaara hit the earth with the side of his fist in frustration. “Don’t miss it. It’ll go too far if you miss it again.”

“I’ll blink if I fire my gun.”

“That’s why I told you you’d have only one shot. It caught one, aim for the space above the dragged chicken.”

Several colorful hens scattered out of the coop into the pen, flapping and screeching enough for Shikamaru to curse. It appeared no one else had seen what Choji and Gaara could see.

There was blood on the wooden ramp up to the opening and then Choji saw it, larger or maybe just fluffier than before. Along it’s back white spines stood up like bone, making it look less fox like and more otherworldly. The wolpertinger were creatures sewn together from the bits of animals unfortunate enough to cross the cursed parts of a forest, the places where fallen gods and monsters of spinning craft hid.

Choji aimed and pretend the barrel of his gun stretched out longer than his arm. He aimed right between the creature’s eyes and blinked as the bullet discharged with a bang. He heard Gaara cry out but when he looked up the creature was gone from its place along with the rabbit.

Gaara bolted up, not bothering to hide himself in the grass anymore. “I can track it,” he cried before tearing off into the field. Behind them Kankuro yelled out for his brother but Choji was already up and racing after the boy. The wind in his eyes made him want to blink but he cried instead, keeping his lids as wide as he possibly could. He could see the creature in the distance, almost just out of sight and coiled to dash off again as soon as he blinked.

“Please,” he breathed to himself while aiming. He fired and saw where the dirt art his bullet. There was a spray of soil from his mistake, but once it fell away the creature was gone.

Gaara was turning around, lips pulled down in a frown. Before he could cross back to Choji’s side there was a second crackling shot. It tore the night open in a way that made Choji dive for the earth in a way he hadn’t since the war.

 _Sniper fire_.

“Who was that?”Gaara asked, wiggling around on the ground. “Did they get it?”

“Gaara!” Kankuro yelled. Before Choji could respond the brother was bounding up alongside the pair and grabbing for the front of Gaara’s shirt to pull him up. “Don’t go running out in front of guns like that! You could have been hit, stupid.”

Gaara huffed. “I’m not stupid, stupid. I was helping!”

“Did you hit it, Choji?” Shikamaru asked as he approached with Omoi.

The staff captain had been chewing on a heavily abused pick of wood left over from dinner, but spit it out into the grass to speak. “Was there anything to hit? It moved too fast I couldn’t see it. We should go check for a blood trail and see if it’s something we can track. Hurry up,” Omoi said.

Shikamaru helped Choji to his feet and called out to Kankuro to hold onto Gaara before chasing after their superior officer. The three of them cut across the grass fields behind the homes towards the rougher patches were rocks holes hid themselves in the grass, making travel slow with nothing more than moonlight to guide their way.

Omni pulled out a match and struck it against the side of the box before dropping it into what looked like a ceramic cup. Something inside burned brightly and the landscape grew shadows.

“There,” Shikamaru cried, spying blood.

The trip followed in the direction of the streak a few more paces before the dropped body of a mutilated hen came into the halo of fire light. The pool of red from its neck gleamed an almost gold shade under the fire. Shikamaru crouched and began to follow the feathers before stopping abruptly, just outside the circle of light. Omni and Choji both heard him curse low.

“What is it?” Omni asked, coming up with his cup fire.

Shikamaru reached into the grass and pulled up the broken antler of the fox shaped wolpertinger, mouth as bloody as a slaughtering post and just as dead from the bullet through its neck.

“You hit it,” Omoi breathed.

But Choji hadn’t. He had missed both times and never aimed at anything so far from the coop.

He inhaled to say as much, but a warning look from Shikamaru made him pause. The Nara boy’s eyes were dark as flint in the low light and tightly narrowed in warning. The message was clear, so Choji kept his mouth shut. 

“Let’s take it back and see what the Major has to say,” Shikamaru suggested as he passed the creature off to Omoi. “No use staying out here in a field where anyone can spy us.”

The feeling of fission running up and down Choji’s spine never left him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So at the end, who wants to take a guess who it was sneaking out in the grasses behind Choji who took the shot and actually hit it? 
> 
> That's the end of Choji's POV for now as I switch back to Sakura. There will be a bit of back and forth between the two, but it's still mostly Sakura's story. :) Sasori, Gaara, and Chiyo will also likely show up again since they're pretty important people in this universe in their own way. Chiyo is fun to write. She's just old and mean and doesn't care anymore (not that she ever did). Sasori gets that from her I think. He's a bit more civil with outsiders right now. 
> 
> Next chapter has more Confluence nonsense showing up.


	5. Chapter 5

Her head wasn’t pounding but there was an unpleasant vibration that made a home in her bones when she drank. She had always been a bit off the edge of normal, but since coming back home, Sakura felt far fallen from what she should have been. She didn’t want to believe it was anything more than the usual sorrows soldiers marched home with and drank themselves out of in the evening. She had expected to come back with some sort of grief when she first dressed in a birch colored uniform, but she hadn’t expected the hollowness. She hadn’t expected the apathy.

Sakura ran a hand up into her hair and looked down at the cup in her hand. She could see all the way to the bottom where nothing but emptiness stared back up at her.

“How is it?”

The voice was kinder than she thought she deserved, but Sakura looked up and smiled for Hana, Kiba’s sister. She had the same sharp smile and cheerful freckles as her brother and her mother’s keen sense.

“It’s a nice brew. I didn’t know the _Kompot_ was in season already. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Confluence,” Sakura answered with a measure of forced cheer, mentally scrambling to try and remember how she had sounded four years ago.She buried her face in the mouth of the cup to inhale the heavy scent of soaked apple and clove and hoped Hana didn’t see the way her lips quivered.

“That’s the first of the season you have there. I’m expecting to break out more this week. We’ve been good about not touching the stuff too early.”

Sakura set the cup down and turned around to find Yugito leaning against the wall and watching out the window. The tavern was empty until evening rush as most of the usual patrons were still in the fields. There were only a few more days until the harvest end, but that wasn’t the reason why Yugito was unable to leave the window.

“Any sign of your friends?” Sakura asked.

Yugito glanced back, expression baleful. It was enough to make Sakura laugh.

“I don’t see how you find this funny,” Yugito huffed. “You were lucky enough to have survived with your head on your shoulders, you shouldn’t push you luck.” 

“I thought that was the reason we were doing favors for them in the dark, yeah?” Sakura reached out and pat the carved rifle where it rested against the bar, barrel pointed down. “I still have my debts to pay.”

“You can pay off your debts some other way. Favors only cultivate attention. There is no room on the scales of judgment for favor with the Niebieski military.”

“Sounds real pretty when you say it like that, but I’m not sure I can believe you. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Proving your worth to the principality and my point.”

Yugito pushed off the wall and left the window behind to devote what was left of her frazzled attention to the loose limbed woman at the bar. Her lip almost curled in distaste at Sakura’s sloppy form, but Sakura knew Yugito was far past reprimands on such petty things.Instead, the blond girl reached for the front of Sakura’s shirt and pulled the two pieces together to re-button just under the chin.

“You’re particularly warm, are you sure you’re feeling fine?” Yugito asked.

Sakura batted the girl’s hands away and turned around halfway, facing the bar again. “I just had a heavy drink, it’s nothing. Poor Shizune is the only one worth worrying about.”

“Is she still doing poorly?” Hana asked, reaching for Sakura’s empty cup to take and clean. “She’s been sick since Confluence. That’s awfully long for someone under Tsunade’s care.”

“Headaches seem to have become a part of her character,” Sakura sighed. “It comes and goes on whims no one can predict, but Baba is keeping her from the worst of it. Shizune’s asleep for the worst of it.”

Hana hummed. “She’s lucky to have you around then. I’m sure you’ve been a great help tending to the chores in their place.”

Sakura grimaced and glanced back at Yugito, the only other one who knew about her last escapade to a not quite neighboring village for two days to answer a Niebieski summons. “Yeah, mostly.”

“Speaking of which, we should probably head back now. Better to be at home than here if our friends really do arrive,” said Yugito.

“I don’t see why they should. Every other town is complaining about something. It doesn’t make sense for them to show up here when no one wants them.” Sakura slid from the stool at the bar and turned to grab the strap for her rifle and swing it up onto her shoulder with practiced ease.

“No mind for strategy. Maybe that’s the crux of their reasoning for seeking out such a place. Why is this town is so _safe_ compared to the other ones?”

“Nowhere is safe. We’re just…” Sakura waved her free hand in front of her face in a gesture she wasn’t even sure of. “We’re just us. Nothing extraordinary. It’s a good place to settle and find some sense of stillness after something like a war.”

“From the way you complain about chores I’m surprised to hear you admit that,” Yugito snorted.

“I don’t like things I’m not good at. Shizune does everything better. It’s terrible she’s too ill to get out and carol eggs from the chickens.” Sakura’s shoulders dropped. “I’ve never seen her this sick for this long. She’s always been prone to headaches but not like this.”

“Were you prone to anything as a child?”

“Injuries,” Sakura admitted with a grin. She paused in the street when she smelled flowers but turned back to Yugito as the scent passed. “She used to get so angry when I got hurt, which I always thought was odd because I was already in a lot of pain without her verbally abusing me. Still, it was better than when Baba treated me, so I usually sought her out instead.”

When Sakura fell into step beside Yugito she caught sight of the older girl’s half smile and felt ruffled by it. “What are you grinning for?”

“I thought the two of you wouldn’t have a good relationship, but that’s not the case.”

“She’s my cousin, of course we’d have a good relationship.”

“Didn’t she take the job you wanted for yourself? You wanted to be the story keeper but Tsunade picked her over you.”

Sakura ignored the soft burn of something close to regret still stuck in her chest, four years later. “Shizune is better suited to it. She’s the natural choice. I just liked stories. I wasn’t good at telling them.”

Yugito watched Sakura with a frown on her lips before returning her gaze to the path ahead of them. “I liked your story of the magic doll.”

“The role is more than just remembering and telling stories. You have to have a sense of people’s needs so that you don't accidentally tell the wrong story. Not all stories are appropriate for all people at all times. Shizune was better at discerning what people needed to hear. I never understood people that well.”

“Then do you want to practice with me? What sort of story do I need?”

Sakura almost missed a step but caught herself before that. There was still something that hurt in her chest, but after years behind the barrel of a gun, she had grown calluses around that particular hurt until it was barely felt anymore. Shizune was better for the job, that was all. Sakura returned her gaze the path out of the village that lay before her.

“No. She’s already been chosen. It doesn’t matter what I know. Thanks for the offer though.”

In the middle of the street a group of young women gathered to trail ribbons in front of a bride to be who couldn’t stop blushing. It made Sakura pause as she tried to remember where she knew the betrothed.

“I used to watch her when she was just a kid,” Sakura breathed, a little too unsettled to keep walking. “She was only just to my hip what felt like weeks ago.”

“She’s a young bride. In these rural villages everyone wants to marry so young,” Yugito mused, stepping up beside Sakura to watch the criss crossing of ribbons. People on either side of the street were tossing the last of their summer flowers into her path to be crushed underfoot. It would make her chosen path in life a sweet one.

“Not everyone. Shizune is still single.”

Yugito smirked and bumped her shoulder into Sakura’s. “Only because she wants to be.”

Her rifle rattled where it hung but didn’t slip as Sakura reached back with her elbow to jab the taller girl.“Hang on, I think I need to cross a ribbon.” Sakura slipped her rifle off and handed it over for Yugito to hold. “Watch this for me.”

Yugito didn’t have time to complain before Sakura was halfway across the street, reaching down for a ribbon that trailed through the dirt. One of the youngest girls, barely ten years old, laughed at Sakura’s clumsy fumble of the engagement ribbon before darting under her arms. Sakura ducked under a widower’s arms and then let another girl cross in front of her, braiding the ribbons as more and more flowers fell under their heels.

Together with the other ladies of her home village, Sakura helped bride the bridal ribbon and then joined in when they began to sing for good luck. They sand for favor and fortune, and then the betrothed sang her own part that tempted the old creatures of the forest to break their union if they could.

‘For my love is a golden bell, he rings like a melody in my heart. My love is a land all my own, our bond is a river no chug may part.’

Mirai came up behind Sakura and wrapped her arms around the older girl’s waist, dragging slightly. Sakura laughed and pried apart the younger girl’s fingers. “One day that’ll be you singing,” Sakura teased.

Mirai made a face. “Ew, no please. I don’t want to have to make a laughingstock out of it. You ever hear me sing? No, well there’s a reason for it.”

Sakura moved Mirai’s arm so that it folded under hers in a mock of how the gentlemen in Niebieski led their ladies through the streets. As she spoke, she scanned the crowds for Yugito.“Then don’t sing. Do something else.”

Mirai sighed but tugged on Sakura’s arm and pointed to the edge of the far crowd, where Yugito’s twin braids could be see beyond the spaces left between people. She had already turned away from the festivities and was heading back up to the house. The crowds made her uncomfortable for some reason, but Sakura hadn’t ever asked why.Confluence was over and Autumn Equinox wasn’t for another half month, there wouldn’t be any more crowds worth anticipating.

Maybe by then, the seasons would take Shizune’s headaches away.

Sakura’s thoughts shattered along with the air as a horrible screech made her drop to her knees with her hands over her ears. It was louder than any gunshot and more hideous than any machine she had ever heard. It made her bones shake worse than any ale had a hope of settling. 

“Sakura!”

Yugito’s scream was frantic as she fought the throng of limbs to reach her and when Sakura turned she saw why. People were throwing themselves any way they could to get away from the hulk of a furred creature looming in the middle of the of tossed petals, horns curled and gleaming like polished obsidian as his muzzle dripped. His head was like a bull’s, but his body resembled a bear’s if bears were the size of living rooms. It roared again, cradling something white and pink to his chest.

The stories made it hard to move when the creature turned towards where she stood frozen.

 _Czart_ the Chort, a creature that collected brides like birds collected buttons. In the stories he ate the grooms if they didn’t kill him first. With another bellow that shook her to the roots of her teeth, the creature turned and began to bound away, leaving deep scars in the dirt and stone both.

“Sakura!”

When Sakura looked this time Yugito had the rifle in both hands and looked ready to toss it. The carving of the bone snake curled around the iron finger trigger stared up at Sakura with empty eye sockets. It made her feel her feet again.

“Not here!” Sakura hissed, scrambled out into the street and the looking around. She dashed off to one of the homes with a low hanging roof over their porch and jumped, grabbing the ledge and swinging the rest of herself up. She rolled onto the roof and popped up, waving her hands at Yugito down below. The blonde tossed Sakura her gun and then dashed off to the side of the house to follow suit.

But Sakura was already scaling the roof like a ramp and leaping onto another nearby housetop. Trading one perch for a higher one, Sakura stood and looked out, catching sight of the blur that was already so far from the village. Soon he would be out of range.

The scar on the top of her rifle where the scope should have sat looked more white than bone as she leveled herself. Sakura flipped the bolt of her rifle up and then pulled back enough to open the chamber for a clip of six gleaming cartridges, each one fashioned to pierce bone and metal, to spring up from the preloaded magazine. She used the bolt to slide the first one forward and held her breath.

The world blurred around her until there was only the shag of gray fur and gleaming black horns.

The next crack came from her. Before she could lower her arms the gray mass stumbled and Sakura saw the veiled girl scramble free. Red stained her veil from where the creature bled on her, but she screamed and ran like her life was still in danger.

“You hit it!” Yugito exclaimed, coming up beside her. “What was that?”

Sakura didn't respond. Her eyes were peeled back wide and watching the Chort tremble. Bleeding, it raised its head and started to turn back towards the way his captive was fleeing. It was badly hurt with a bullet between its eyes, but it still struggled to reach for the girl.

With a curse, Sakura pulled the bolt and readied the next cartridge. It was an odd feeling, to have to hit something twice, and she was afraid her hands would start to shake if she couldn’t take it down before her rifle ran out of bullets. The stories always had monsters dying from silver blades or stakes cut from sacred trees. What would her bullets do against monsters?

Sakura readied her gun again and once more the world cracked with her shot. The Chort reeled, blood gushing from where it once had an eye. It fell backwards and writhed, but didn’t still. It was wild with pain, but not dead.

“Shit,” Sakura hissed, pulling back the bolt again. More than fear she felt anger. Nothing lived after two shots.

It got up and started to chase after the screaming girl, coming back towards town. Sakura tracked it with the end of her gun and let the bullet fly just before he could reach the edges of where houses and buildings began. Two eyes shot out and a bullet through its brain and it still howled with pain, very much alive.

Sakura took aim again and hit it in the leg near the ankle. She saw his hoof fly out as he rolled onto his side, off his legs. Sakura knelt and pulled the bolt back to remove the cartridge where only enough remained for two more shots. She doubted either one would be as effective as her other four.

“What are you doing?” Yugito hissed as she knelt down next to Sakura.

Sakura had taken the last two cartridges out and held them like cards between her fingers while her rifle rested between her knees. She had her knife out and was scratching, desperately, a design into the side. She remembered it well enough but struggled to make the lines on a curved surface.

Chorts were fiends and weak to silver, but she didn’t have anything that shot silver so the next best thing was a spell. She wasn’t a witch or a magic woman by any stretch of the imagination, but she had magic in her and she hoped that it would be enough for something no one had believed in since the last damed century.

She only had time to carve into one, the beast was too close to reclaiming the fleeing girl even with a lame leg and plenty of lost blood, but she prayed it stung as well as silver before loading it into her gun and righting it up.

The Chort had stumbled forward a bit more and was closer to the original abduction site, close enough to smell even over all the flowers. Anyone with a gun could hit it from so close, so she wouldn’t miss.

As if it sense her thoughts, the long bull like head turned towards here. Both sockets were red and bleeding, but still somehow managed to find her. It roared and reached, legs bunching for a jump. Sakura pulled the trigger just as the Chort launched itself at her.

The moment lasted forever as it rose up, impossibly slow and fast all at once. It caught the alchemical altered silver cartridge in its throat and choked into its own fall.

There was screaming and Sakura wasn’t sure it wasn’t coming from her, but when she looked down she could see the open mouths and frantic eyes peeled wide as people scattered back and forth, caught between destructive curiosity and self preservation.

The dirt under the monster’s body was growing dark with blood thick enough to stink. It had been a long time since she killed something from anything but a distance.

“You got it. He’s not getting back up,” Yugito whispered, scarcely able to raise her voice an octave higher. It was a voice Sakura recognized from plenty of others during those four years.

“I don’t trust it either. Hold my rifle.”

Sakura slipped her gun over her shoulder and pushed it into the blonde’s hands before flipping over and lowering herself down to the edge of the roof. She kicked off the wall and scaled down with the help of a few opportunistic footholds that Yugito explored on her own when she followed Sakura down to hand back over the rifle.

With her rifle still loaded with a single cartridge, Sakura held it at her side and approached the wary ring of men with weapons at the ready. She recognized a couple of guns but everyone else was armed with some sort of heavy farming tool, none of them silver.

“Step back,” Sakura barked, waving the but of her gun to make room. No one stayed in her way once they saw who it was shoving them to the side.

Someone had taken the screaming bride away to clean the blood off her veil and take her to bed where she could sleep the rest of the horrible day away, but plenty others remained. Sakura recognized Kiba and his mother Tsume near the front of the crowd. Tsume was brandishing a thick knife meant for butchering cattle.

“Is it dead?” someone asked.

Sakura waved off the person closest to the carcass and approached it herself. Both the eyes had been blown out and thick patches of fur were knotted with wet blood that ran red. Rolling up her sleeves, she dug her fingers into the wound under its jaw and felt what was left of the magically turned silver bullet in its throat. The meat around the wound was black and purple while the other wounds just bled.

Like other beasts, the Chort was supposed to have an incredible healing rate for anything that wasn’t caused by silver, or blessed wood. Baba Tsunade’s stories had told her as much over the years of stories. Other creatures were weak to iron, but fiends and beasts crumbled to silver.

“We need to sever the head and bury the rest of the body. If someone wants to, the hide can be skinned, but the head needs to be severed.” Sakura turned and forced her voice into her lungs until it boomed. “Someone get me a carving knife!”

A few figures raced off but Tsume was already there, offering her knife as she knelt down beside Sakura. Kiba hung back.

“Why do you need to cut off the head?” Yugito asked. “Can it come back if you don’t?”

Sakura forced the weight of her body into her arm and then into the knife as she pushed it into the meat of the Chort’s thick, furred neck. Its blood was still warm as it swam up between her fingers.

“No, if you bury the head you could grow a new Chort, a stronger beast that’s called a Wyjec. I’ll take the head back to Baba and she’ll harvest what she can from it. It needs to be properly disposed of, otherwise it could go worse for us.”

“Aye, trust Tsunade’s granddaughter with the gun to remember that,” Tsume chuckled. “That could have been bad.”

Yugito’s voice sounded far away when she spoke. “But those are just stories. They’re not supposed to be taken _literally_.”

“Are you going to say next that monsters aren’t real either?” Tsume cackled, a grin wide and manic as she crouched down next to the sagging head. “You really gonna say something like that here and now, unbeliever?”

“Why did it come?” a voice called out from the crowd, sparking murmurs and hushed conversation.

“Why now? I’ve never seen something like this before,” someone else panicked.

“We summoned it, idiot,” Sakura hissed over her shoulder, eyes angry and burning as she worked at the gore of a monster’s neck. “She tempted it out of the woods and sang for it. That’s why.”

“But we’ve done that before and never anything like this-nothing bad ever happened.”

Sakura paused to look up and see Kurina standing at the edge of the crowd with her husband, Asuma standing at her elbow, looking grim. Kurina wasn’t looking away.

“I don’t know,” Sakura answered with all her honesty. “I’ve never heard of anything like this actually happening before. I just know what the stories say. For now it might be best to air on the side of caution and not risk anything. Bread in your pockets, iron on your fingers, refresh the paint on your doors, and no one goes into the forest alone.”

More murmurs broke off as people started to remember the oldest superstitions.

“But what if it was just one? What are the chances that there-that something so unbelievable might happen again?” Yugito asked.

“I don’t know what the chances are, but they’re already too high. We play it safe,” Sakura grunted, returning to the thick meat of the monster’s neck.

Sakura heaved and huffed as she got down to the bone and had to accept a saw to make it through the rest of its neck, breaking them free from the sinews that clung like greedy fingers to every bit. Her fingers near burned, but eventually the head snapped like a broken branch and rolled free, spraying blood as it tumbled away. Sakura saw a few people jump back, but others stayed still.

Someone cut open a sackcloth to spread it out flat on the ground. Sakura and Kiba rolled the head onto the material and then tied up the ends so it could be carried. The butcher wouldn’t take any meat from the monster but others were already talking about and arguing over what to do with the rest of the body. None of that mattered. She needed to find her baba and get back to Shizune.

“Oh, now I think I see why this village didn’t report any complaints,” a new voice broke in.

Yugito went stiff and Sakura whirled with blood soaking the front of her clothes as her neighbors parted their crowd for a clustering of uniformed visitors. At the front, a woman with the same corn blond hair as Yugito stood with enough medals on her chest to make her someone important. Sakura recognized the woman a second later and bit back a groan.

“Major Samui,” Yugito stiffly address, edging in to stand between Sakura and the Major.

Sami lifted her chin and nodded to where Sakura stood, still thick with gore. “You seem fairly adapt at handling these sorts of problems too, friend. I look forward to working with you again.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who guessed that Sakura was the sniper from the previous chapter, the answer is yes. :) Now Sami is back for more of Sakura's help, just like Yugito feared. 
> 
> To clarify, because Sakura was on the losing side of the war, she was spared but has a debt she has to pay back to the winning side-and it's pretty hefty because of all the people she killed. The job she did for Major Sami was just one way she was trying to earn money for the debt, instead of just farming forever.


	6. Chapter 6

Choji Akimichi never considered himself a particularly striking individual, he was tall, but too hunched with meekness to boast of any stature, and like his father and mother before him he had the traditional frame that others politely referred to as 'big boned.' When others weren't interested in being polite they called him all sorts of nasty names he remembered too well.

But Choji never considered himself small before, not until he stood in front of the grizzled hide of a cloven creature with ancient blood soaking into the soil. The only thing more humbling than the monster was the fairy like girl dressed in its blood. She hadn't stopped glaring at the Major since their arrival, even though she still dripped gore. She seemed more interested in keeping her guard up than in cleaning herself. She reminded him of something too wild to be the solider Shikamaru said she was.

Omoi made a move towards the carcass but the bloody girl stepped forward, standing squarely in his path, her intention to block abundantly clear.

When it had been the dog sized wolpertinger Omoi had been fanatically curious in recording his observations. Samui had given him permission to dissect and skin the creature before sending its preserved remains back to the capitol where more seasoned scientists could observe at their leisure. For all the excitement and passion Omoi had for such a small creature, Choji could only assume his ambitions would be that much greater for the demon beast.

"We'll need to catalog and examine the creature," Omoi started to explain.

"Why?" Her words came out sharp. " _You_  didn't kill it."

Choji could feel Shikamaru's nervous stare out of the corner of his eye, but didn't turn to see it fully. He didn't want to look away from the girl dressed in blood.

Omoi looked more confused than upset as he turned back to where Samui stood and waited for her to answer for him. Omoi, being closely related to the crown prince, wasn't used to not getting his way.

When Samui didn't say anything Omoi huffed and looked back at the girl. "Regardless of who did what, as members of the Niebieski military, it is our job to ensure the safety of not only this village but all villages within the boarders of our princedom's reach. We can not do this effectively without knowing what new dangers lurk on our lands."

"And you think you can know by playing with the entrails of dead things?"

"We'll know more from that than we would without," Omoi said as he tried again to move past her. She shifted her stance and stared hard, seeming impossibly large for her tiny frame. Omoi didn't advance again.

"You seemed to know well enough how to bring it down," Shikamaru interrupted, drawing not only the girl's attention, but the Major's as well. "No one died from this one, at least. Others were not so fortunate."

Choji glanced between his friend, the Major, and the girl. Shikamaru was making a point that drew attention to himself when that was the last thing he claimed he wanted and Choji couldn't understand why.

The girl reached up with the palm of her hand and used her wrist to smear away some of the blood around her mouth before responding. Choji knew he probably looked bewitched by how keenly he watched each of her little actions.

"I've been told I'm a pretty decent shot." Her eyes cut to where Samui stood.

The blonde Major took a handful of steps forward, touching Omoi's shoulder and passing him to stop parallel with the bloody girl, shoulder to shoulder. The Major didn't look at anyone when she spoke, her eyes stayed on the bleeding corpse instead.

"This is the first one we've seen dead. Even riddled with bullets the others didn't go down, just my men. Why did  _this_  one die for you?"

"I shot it," Sakura answered, turning sideways but making no move to stop the Major or put herself between the blonde and the beast.

Choji hadn't been there, but he had been in the room when the Major opened the letter and read about twelve men who died trying to kill a creature that tore through a town much larger than Sakura's little Chmury. The report listed each of their names as well as a description of an animal part wolf, part goat, part horse.

There were other letters too, about canyons smelling of rotting flesh where men went but didn't return, but the Major didn't open those.

The more he thought about it, the odder it felt to him. In the month they had been traveling, Choji had seen little more than a wolpertinger, but every time they stoped the Major received letters of far grater threats that her men couldn't stand up to. Shikamaru said they were lucky to have missed the worst of the missions, but worried how much longer their luck would hold. It was only a matter of time before they answered the call of a problem too great for them to handle.

"You shot it, yes, but our men did that too," Samui said while still watching the dead body. She sniffed and the skin around her nostrils wrinkled in disgust. "Why did your bullets bring it down?"

The lines of the girl's body projected irritation and Choji thought he saw her hair bristle around her face.  _"I_  didn't miss."

Samui angled her head back and caught the girl in a look that might have been cut from the glacial sheets north of the world's end.

"No, but I suppose you never do."

Samui turned back to where Shikamaru was watching and nodded at him. "I hope you can show my men how not to miss as well. We'll be staying long enough for you to have that opportunity."

The other girl in twin blonde tails stepped forward again. She had stood in between Sakura and the visitors until that moment. "Major, are you planning on taking a post in the village? There's not been a need for a military presence here."

"Not from you, but the military has plenty of her own needs that can be seen to from here, as I'm sure you know, Yugito Nii."

The name sounded familiar to Choji, and he knew it was a Niebieski name, but couldn't place it in his memories. Shikamaru would know. Choji would have to speak with his friend in length later on that night. It was beginning to look like their arrival in the quiet town of bloody girls and dead beasts was more Shikamaru's idea and less of the Major's.

"Haruno Sakura," Samui called, seizing the girl's attention, "We'll be staying with this town's elder, the man named Sarutobi. When you're done playing in the blood of your animal, you may report to his manor for further details on how you may make yourself useful."

"And if I don't?" Sakura grumbled.

Beside her, Yugito winced.

Samui merely raised a single, delicate brow. "Our gracious prince spared you for a reason. You left our city in  _our_  uniform with your head on your shoulders, didn't you? This is just one more way you get to repay your debt to us." Samui smiled and waved a hand over her shoulder as if dismissing something trivial. "Clean your mess up however you see fit and we'll take the rest."

Omoi hesitated, but when Karui snapped at him, the boy fell into step behind his cousin and followed the rest of the group as it moved back the way it came.

Choji lingered a moment longer, watching the girl still stained in dark blood. She must have sensed his stare since her eyes flashed up to meet his and he knew, instinctively, she was something his mother had warned him about many years ago, when the crib was still close. She was small and lithe of form, but there was magic in her eyes that made him feel small in comparison.

_'Remember humility when the magic man looks at you and there will never be a reason to fear.'_

_'And if I'm not humble?'_

His mother hadn't given him an answer, just another warning wrapped in laughter for a child.

The blonde girl, Yugito, reached out and touched Sakura's shoulder, saying something too soft to hear from a distance. Sakura pressed her lips into a thin line but nodded subtly before turning back around to the mess of blood and gore people still crowded around.

"We can tan the hide, burn what's left of its meat and bones, but whatever you do  _don't_  bury anything," Sakura barked to the villagers closest to the body. "We'll scatter the ashes in the river."

Choji watched her call out to a few more villagers, speaking their names and giving them more specific directions on what to do. Everyone fell into line and followed her words, even though she couldn't have been maybe a year or two older than Choji himself. She was a girl made newly woman but the fathers and mothers still hurried to do as she said. The girl wielded an authority that didn't come from her military background, but somewhere else.

"Oi, pig, quit lagging," Omoi called back, making Choji snap to attention and burn red at the ears from the name. Normally it didn't bother him so much, it was something he had grown used to, but when Sakura looked up he knew she had heard Omoi and that just made him feel sick all over.

Choji jogged until he was beside Shikamaru who had fallen back once he noticed his friend lingering.

"Don't stare so much, we'll likely be stationed here a while, I doubt this is the last you'll see of her," Shikamaru said.

"Wh-who was-no, is, who  _is_  she? Did you know her?" Choji flustered, still feeling heat on the back of his neck.

"No, I didn't know her, just her reputation. She was one of the very few who was issued a full pardon after the war ended, partially because she was a contracted solider. You remember hearing about the battle at the ruins of Zamok.

Choji recalled the memory easily. He had been there, after all. It had been a mess and a miracle all at once because they shouldn't have survived. Text books were already citing the incursion as an example of how easily a force could deteriorate without their commanders.

Before the Niebieski knew what had happened, all their generals were dead in the snow. The soldiers panicked as the chain of command became a death sentence, allowing the Brzoza time to execute a tactical retreat.

"She was one of our snipers. The one they called the Snake Skinner."

Choji remembered the wonder shared between fellow Broza survivors when the news of her pardon rolled out along with several others. She had killed too many important people, the Niebieski people hated her for how she robbed them of their war heroes. But she had been a contract killer and folded easily, swearing a new allegiance and submitting the story of her humbling for their delight.

Or so the stories went…

Maybe the Crown Prince had been swayed when he saw her, a small thing with eyes too thick with lashes and lips too soft for curses, Choji mused with a startle. Her pardon's news came devoid of any illustrations and no one on either side actually knew what she looked like aside from her direct superiors and few others. Choji had never seen her until just then, but they had shared plenty of battlefields between them. It left him feeling odd, like he was finally meeting a ghost.

"What do you think the Major is going to do about this?" Choji asked. "It was your idea to come here, wasn't it?"

Shikamaru almost flinched. "What makes you think that?"

"Because I know you. I may not be smart enough to figure it out on my own, but you said something like this a long time back, when we were still in the blue city and stuck sorting reports. You were curious about the places that never complained."

"If you've seen the general's map it would be clear to even you," Shikamaru sighed. "There's a big fat hole where this village is. The only other places empty are the uninhabited ones." He glanced back over his shoulder. "And now we know why."

"It makes you think of the stories, doesn't it?" Choji asked with a chuckle.

"Hn, maybe."

They made it back to the manor where a servant told them that Sarutobi had left to see to matters of great importance and Samui scoffed at the excuse, but saw herself to her room without assistance. The man's grandson, a boy only a couple of years younger than Choji and Shikamaru, said he could show them to their rooms.

"You got left behind?" Karui teased as they followed him down the hall.

The boy looked up with a thinly restrained glower that made Shikamaru sigh. Karui liked teasing people too much for her own good.

"The lady can stay here. The three of you can share the room across the hall," the grandson said.

"What? I have to share?" Omoi whined, looking enviously at Karui's single room. She just cackled in his face and slipped into the room with her bags, closing the door behind her.

"It's all we have. We're not the inn. You could stay  _there_  if you were so desperate for a single room." The boy jerked his chin at the room and then brushed past them.

Choji turned to allow him more room in the tight hallway, but called out before the boy could move much further. "Wait, what's your name?"

The boy stopped and stared back over his shoulder, eyes narrowed in distrust.

When the boy didn't respond Choji added, "My name is Choji. Thank you for the rooms."

"…Konahamaru. It's not like I have a choice in the matter so don't thank me."

"Ah, Konahamaru, could I ask you something then? I don't mean for right now, but do you think you could point me in the direction of a good bakery?"

Konahamaru nodded slowly, as if unsure of what to make of the much larger man. "Sure, just not now. It's a little busy with people at the moment. I can't leave here either."

Choji didn't miss the note of youthful resentment. Choji couldn't find it in himself to blame the kid. If their roles had been reversed Choji knew he would have also resented someone holding him back from something everyone else seemed involved in.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate whenever it's convenient for you." Choji lifted his saddlebags up higher on his shoulder, unencumbered by their size or weight. With more of his arm free he extended what he could for Konahamaru to clasp.

"I thought you were only supposed to use the hand for a shake," Konahamaru said, taking the whole forearm into a traditional clasp.

"That's how  _they_  do it. I was always taught this way."

Something changed in Konahamaru's expression. There was less tension around his eyes, but he still didn't smile. The boy dropped the clasp first and left the rest of the way until the hallway was empty of all but Choji's shadow.

He turned back to the shared room in time to catch Omoi in the doorway trying to leave. Omoi huffed loudly and pushed Choji out of the way with his elbow before stalking out. Choji heard the front door open and shut and knew where the solider was likely heading.

Inside the room Shikamaru was emptying the contents of his saddlebags and sorting through some of the things he would need. There were three beds in the room, but it looked as if one of the beds on the far wall, the one left for Choji, had been moved into the room from somewhere else. Choji set his saddle bags down at the foot of the bed and jumped when he felt Shikamaru's hand on his neck, cold from poor circulation no doubt.

"What was that for?"

"We're going out for what we came here for. Quick, while the Major is busy documenting her log and responding to letters. Omoi already left, he'll be barking up that carcass all night long, which gives us plenty of time."

"Plenty of time to do what?" Choji glanced down and caught how Shikamaru hadn't dressed down for the day other than the shedding of his uniform blazer. He still looked ready to go out even though they had been traveling so long.

Shikamaru didn't answer, but brushed past him into the hallway, waving over his shoulder to encourage his friend into following. Choji grabbed a handful of dried fruit slices, the only food left in his personal stash, and hurried after his childhood friend.

Shikamaru made a beeline for a cluster of women who mingled in the street, speaking among themselves far away from the bloody scene to manage a sense of safety. He ran up holding a folded piece of paper in his hand and sounded almost out of breath when he stopped in front of the first lady.

"Excuse me, this is urgent, I need to deliver this to your Story Keeper right away. Where might I find them?" Shikamaru breathed, sounding like he had been running.

One of the women pushed to the front to grab his by the elbow and turn him to the edge of town that slopped up the side of a hill. There were platforms cut into the hill side where homesteads had been built. Each one was a bit removed from the rest of the town. The woman was talking to Shikamaru, giving him instructions to a house higher and further than the others.

"Thank you," he breathed before turning to wave Choji.

When he started to jog towards the hill's path Choji followed in suite, waiting until there was no one around to hear before leaning over and asking behind his hand. "What important business do you have with a Story Keeper you never met? Did the Major give you something?"

Shikamaru snorted and eased into a walk. "Of course not, this is for my own curiosities. The Major doesn't know anything about this until it suites us for her to be made aware of this, so don't blab."

"I didn't know you were curious about stories," Choji teased.

The playful ribbing made Shikamaru grimace in embarrassment. "I'm not like you, I don't believe in them like the fanatics and the fools do. At least not any more than I believe in coincidences. You remember Chiyo? Aside from that one issue we were there to deal with, nothing else unusual turned up in their village and not because Sasori wasn't willing to contact us again. Things just stoped showing up, almost like she planned it that way."

"She planned for people to lose their livelihoods?"

"I wouldn't put it past her. We showed up and dealt with the problem and a pin was put in the map on her village, taking it out of the equation and rising her above suspicion."

"And….?"

"It's only a matter of time before we run into trouble. Relations only get you so far, so when that good grace runs out, I want to be a little more ready," Shikamaru grumbled.

Choji thought back to their first away mission and how long it had been since they had actually seen anything worth writing home about.

The Major's unit was not taken to high risk areas for a reason as Shikamaru had recently uncovered. Both Karui and Omoi were cousins of the crowned prince and potential hers in a future succession crisis if the prince stayed childless much longer. For this reason, their unit was tasked with the documenting and clean up cases, which worked out great for a brain like Shikamaru and a coward like Choji.

The pair reached the brightly colored gates, decorated with paintings out of stories far older than any of their own elders. Shikamaru let himself into the yard, leading so that Choji could follow.

"Have you thought of what you'll say to her when you meet her?"

But the door opened before Shikamaru could answer. The woman was taller than Shikamaru with long twin tails of silver blond hair braided down in front of each shoulder. There were wrinkles that betrayed her age, but she had a glare that inspired caution.

"Strangers," she scoffed, giving them both a one-over. "To disturb the sick in my own house, who are you and what do you want?"

"Story Keeper, we're bringing word of the attack. Have you yet heard of it?" Shikamaru rushed to answer, putting on a performance.

The woman's glare turned dark as she stepped back to let the rest of the door swing open.

Just past her shoulder on the table in the kitchen, the bleeding head of the creature lay. Next to it stood Yugito and Sakura, holding a weapon. A forth woman sat at the end of the table, sipping from a tea cup. She lifted her face from the rim's edge and smiled, lips stained black from the creature's blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my Choji chapters! He's a little in over his head but he's not tooooooooo upset about it if he gets to be in over his head around Sakura. Both Shikamaru and Choji were on the same side as Sakura, soldiers for the Birch (Brzoza) country, and so they were involved in battles together without realizing it. Shikamaru and Choji were both sons of lords so they had better positions and saw less action.
> 
> There were stories about a ghost like sniper who was contracted to kill high ranking officials specifically-to cut the head off the snake. She was famous for doing a little more than that and got the nickname Snake Skinner. Now you know why.
> 
> More magic and adventure stuff coming up next! Thank you guys so much for showing an interest and reading this story of mine. I'm so in love with this world and hope it's a fun little trip for you as well. Your comments are giving me so much life. THANK YOU!


	7. Chapter 7

The air still stank and Sakura felt like more of a wound then than the time she woke up from a nap in the woods with green tears in her eyes. She experienced her first bleeding a few days later paired with Baba Tsunade’s explanation that for some girls in their family, the season of change meant a second chance to awaken sleeping gifts.

‘ _I hadn’t expected anyone else to have a gift in our family. One is rare enough, two is unheard of_ ,’ the old woman had mused before taking Sakura.

It wasn’t until later on that Sakura understood what her grandmother was so impressed by.

Shizune had always had her gifts, but Sakura’s came late. Story keepers were lucky if they had one child in their bloodline to mentor before death. One was the standard. Shizune had always been the one fate intended for greatness. At best, Sakura had been an afterthought with a half formed gift that hurt more than it was worth, now more than ever.

There had always been something there, but after Confluence that ghost of a bruise became a throb, and then after the Chort encounter that throb became an infection that burned. She had seen men suffer from ailments in the summer lands further south, where the cold temperatures weren't enough to destroy the diseases that loved the flesh too well. She knew the shape of their screams well enough.

Her eyes were only a part of the problem now. Before, when the dried up streams of magic were still shallow and low within her, she had benefited from the ability to see the far and the near the way no one else could, and that's what made her such a good sniper. But now, those streams of magic were full and gushing. She felt it in her bones and then again somewhere deeper, more secret, the devastating truth: she was not made for this and whatever this was, it was killing her the same way it was killing Shizune.

“Can you make it back?”

Sakura forced her eyes open and saw Yugito standing near, using her body to hide Sakura's state from the others who might stray too near and notice. In the background, there were plenty of people rushing to the carcass to salt it and help drag it off. Mothers were rounding up children back into their houses, and fathers were moving out to repaint the wards over their thresholds and under their widows. Sakura was glad to see them heeding her advice. No one was willing to doubt the instructions of a Story Keeper’s kin after what just happened.

“I look that bad?” Sakura forced herself to tease.

“Are you just nauseous or is it something else?” Yugito asked again, leaving no space behind her words for silliness.

Sakura took a deep breath, imagining her lungs filling with soft light until she exhaled. She repeated the meditation several more ties until the sensations of her body, the pain and discomfort, felt further removed from her awareness. The pain was still there, but it was like putting on a layer of clothing to protect against the cold, and that was enough to push off the side of Yamato’s shop and stand on her own two feet again. It wasn't perfect, but it wold do.

“We need to take the head with us,” Sakura said, gesturing with her chin to the sackcloth that was soaked through at the base.

Yugito picked it up and held it out, away from her body, but nodded in confirmation.”I have it,” she answered easily.

The air stank from what soaked the sackcloth but neither girl remarked upon it as they both turned towards the house and made the trek in silence. Sakura sucked in air over her teeth and then out again the same way. It barely felt like breathing, but at least she couldn’t smell the rot as well.

“Tsunade,” Yugito called from the gate before unlatching it for the both of them. “Old woman, we have something!”

Tsunade was at the door with a scowl to meet them. Her old hazel colored eyes flickered over Sakura before moving on to other things like a bee leaving one barren flower for another.

“What did you bring in the bag?” she gagged, holding her hand up to her nose. “It’s evil.”

“It’s a fiend and we need it,” Sakura answered before latching the gate shut behind her. “Can you do _that_ here?”

Tsunade sighed but stepped aside to let them into the house. She watched behind them before closing the door and latching the bolt.Shizune was sitting up at the table with her head lagging to the side in what looked like a stupor. Sakura’s cousin was just as pale as Sakura remembered her being before leaving, but that didn’t dislodge the wrongness of the sight from her mind. Shizune looked so unnatural when she was sick.

“Set it on the table.”

Yugito’s lip curled but it was Sakura who spoke. “It’ll stain the wood with its filth.”

The older woman broke off a handful of half formed curses but gathered a cloth to fold up and leave on the table to protect its wood from whatever leaked through.Yugito set it down where she had been instructed to and let the ends of the bag fall away. Tsunade stiffened but Shizune didn’t even flinch when the head became visible to both. The smell from before grew worse, but Sakura was proud of how her stomach didn’t turn from it.

“How long ago did this happen?” Tsunade asked. She Turned and headed for the cabinet of her apothecary pushed back behind their food stores, cleverly blended into being almost inconspicuous. She pulled out a glass jar and unscrewed the cap before spooning out a spoonful of what was inside.

Yugito explained an abbreviated summary of events that answered most of Tsunade’s asked questions. Sakura stayed where she stood, sagging enough to lean against the wall with her rifle limp and empty in her hands. 

The room watched as Tsunade took the empty cup in front of Shizune and filled it with brown powder before using a new spoon and scooping out a handful of dark colored blood from the head. Yugito gagged and glanced back to see if Sakura was just as unsettled.

“What are you doing, woman?” Yugito asked. Tsunade had mixed enough blood into the cup that it was filled to the brim.

“This is a suppressant. Sakura, here, to me. You’ll need to drink this if you really did kill this thing.”

Sakura glanced up, almost ready to do as her Baba bid her without thinking, but Yugito moved to block the path, a fierce snarl in place. “You’re not making her touch that nasty business.”

“You want to protect her, help me bring her over or else she’ll be in just more pain. She’s already at her limit, just look you blind girl.”

Yugito frowned but glanced back at Sakura and then the blood filled cup. “An evil thing’s blood won’t do her any good, even if she was the thing that killed her.”

“It matters less that this is a creature she killed and more than it’s a creature made from essence of earth, malice, and just enough magic to make it a problem. It’s blood will suppress the magic of anyone who drinks from it, and right now that’s what both my girls need.”

“Yugito,” Sakura managed. She felt the rifle in her fingers slip and she couldn’t catch it before it clattered down between her toes. “Let me.”

Hearing her name, Yugito turned to the side and watched as Sakura forced herself off the wall and over to where the head and the cup sat, unmoving. Yugito said nothing, but her expression was more stern than usual.

The tea was warm like blood from a slaughtered calf was warm, and smelled far worse than any sacrificial animal, but Sakura could barely feel her body anymore so she tipped the cup back and drank without giving the liquid a chance to stain her teeth.

It sloshed down her throat and she felt heavy because of it. Sakura hated it right away, but after dropping the cup onto the table and staggering back, she felt it do what Tsunade had said it would. The rivers in her that were close to bursting from all her magic, slackened and thinned as the demon blood made her more human and less magic.

When she looked up Yugito was watching her with an angry expression that melted the moment she saw color came back into Sakura’s complexion.

“How do you feel?” she asked, reaching to support Sakura as she staggered, uncoordinated in her own feet.

“Not great, but better.” Sakura glanced back to where her grandmother was preparing another cup for Shizune. “How did you know that was going to work?”

“How do I know anything, child? I learned it from a story.”

Yugito glanced from where Sakura stood to the cup on the table, and then finally to where Shizune sat. Sakura followed her friend’s gaze and felt a new heaviness that didn’t come from anything but her feelings.

“You knew what you were supposed to do, but you weren’t sure it would work, were you?” Sakura asked. “So I was the test.”

“I knew you would have survived, don’t make it sound so dramatic,” sighed Tsunade. “We’ll be having visitors soon, so pick that rifle up again and look mildly threatening.”

“I don’t feel like guests,” Sakura grumbled even as she bent to do as her grandmother bid.

“It’s the lesser of two devils if we get into it with these two, I’ve been told.” Tsunade grinned at the mixture in the cup and then pressed it into Shizune’s hands. “You’ll need more than this, but for now just drink.”

Sakura watched as her cousin managed a sip and then another. After a mouthful of the nasty liquid she was tipping the cup back and drinking greedily. As bitter as Sakura was at the preference Baba showed to Shizune, Sakura couldn’t find it in her heart to be angry when she considered how much worse a gift like prophecy must feel like inside a brain too small to fit it all.

“Did Shizune tell you we would be getting guests?” Sakura asked, still watching her cousin recover.

“One of the few things she did manage to get out, yes.” Tsunade glanced back at the head on the table. “We’ll not get much more out of the head. One more cup and then we can set it in the bonfire where evil things belong.”

“That’s what they said they would do with the rest of the body after they skinned it,” Yugito mentioned, looking to Sakura while remembering the instructions from earlier. “If you knew that then, why did you bring the head here to her?”

Sakura grunted but reached for the head with her rifle tucked under one arm. Lifting the mouth open, she grabbed the lolling tongue and ripped it free. There was a smattering of dank blood, but not much. “There are things you can use the body for. Tongue of the devil for spells, teeth of the beast for hexes, bones-”

Tsunade caught her wrist and tugged her back around. “You’re not a witch, Sakura. You’ve not the business for harvesting such things,” she chastised. Tsunade stood beside Sakura with an empty glass jar, newly opened for her to drop the tongue into. “Leave these things to me and Shizune.”

“Why?” Sakura asked, bristling. “You’re not witches either. You’re-”

“We’re story keepers, which makes us worse,” Shizune interrupted.

Tsunade and Sakura turned together to see Shizune sitting up in her chair and leaning forward without support to sip at her second cup. She licked the edge of her lips before opening her mouth to speak again.

“We can salvage these things, you were right to bring them to us. Baba is just being mean.”

Sakura remembered seeing the journals and books with diagrams of monsters opened wide, of drawings that described how to pull and boil body parts just right to make things. Those were the things she would never be allowed to read because only one story keeper could inherit such work, and that wasn’t her.

“ _Fine_.”

She dropped the tongue into the glass jar and readjusted the rifle in her hands. 

Yugito _tisked_ loudly from where she stood by the window. “There’s two of them at the gate. Were you expecting them this early?” she asked, glancing to where the head sat on the table, mouth open and bleeding from the picked free tongue.

Tsunade didn’t answer, but crossed the room to the door and flung it open before the first boy’s fist could fall onto a knock. Sakura held her gun, only partially aware of how the scene must appear to two strangers from the capital as Tsunade huffed about disturbing strangers. Sakura hadn’t forgotten the stain of Shizune’s black colored lips.

“I guess she has a good idea of it,” the larger male whispered to his companion, too loud to be conspiratorial. Sakura remembered him in that moment. He had been the mocked boy who walked off with his shoulders higher than his ears. He hadn’t seemed as mean spirited as the others who wore that uniform. If anything, he seemed timid and country bred-the opposite of those coming from the Blue City of Niebieski.

Yugito moved first, grabbing Shikamaru by the scruff of his collar and dragging him in while Tsunade pulled in the larger one. Sakura kept her rifle at hip level, watching the boys being manhandled. Once the door shut behind them both women stepped away and let the boys move freely, but the illusion of decorum was already broken.

“What are you doing with that thing?” the smaller one asked in a tight whine. He looked sick at the sight of it.

Yugito scoffed loudly. “You’re not Niebieski born if you’re panicking so easily. Start with your names before you demand answers.” She leaned enough to the side to show off the saber still hanging from her belt. Neither boy looked armed.

The larger of the two seemed more calm, but stuttered a bit when he spoke, trying to get his words out around his disarming smile and upturned hands. “Ch-Choji Akamichi, and this is Shikamaru Nara, we’re not originally Niebieski, no, but we’re in their service.”

“Political prisoners,” Yugito amended.

Sakura couldn’t be sure, but she thought she recognized the last names. Political hostages taken after a war weren’t unheard of, and she knew Niebieski had collected its fair share to keep the local lords and dames respectful.

“We’re here because it’s important,” Choji insisted. “There have been so many incidents and so many deaths because of things we don’t understand. This is one of the only places that’s been free of casualty. Other places have suffered far more.”

“And that is a problem for the people in charge. If they weren’t willing to take responsibility for so many communities they shouldn’t have laid their claims,” Tsunade responded.

“It doesn’t matter where the town is or who’s in charge, Niebieski and Brzoza both are suffering active losses from things no one can explain,” Shikamaru interrupted, seemingly just recovering his voice. “True, it’s worse on the Niebieski side but no one is untouched…save for this place and few others.”

“We’re not untouched,” Tsunade said, glancing sideways at the head.“We just know how to deal with it.”

“And that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Yugito interrupted. “You want to know how.”

Sakura felt the taller boy’s, _Choji’s_ , attention settle on her a fraction of a second before the rest of the room turned like one in her direction. Only Shizune seemed unconcerned with the tide of conversation as she finished off the last of her drink.

“That…” Shikamaru agreed, “Or soldiers to fight these things for us. That’s what the Major seems to believe in.”

Sakura shifted the rifle from her hands onto her back and turned to gather up the head in the torn sack. “I’m tired of being someone’s dog. I’ll work for her coin but I’m not going to be one of her subordinates.”

“Do you really have a choice if that’s what she asks?” Shikamaru’s tone was flat enough for Sakura to hear the resentment he tried to hide.

Sakura didn’t waste time considering how much of a choice _he_ had been given.

“She can try.”

Sakura dragged the head in the bag off the table and shouldered past both boys, not caring if one or both turned around to watch her go. She heard Yugito follow her out and down the lesser used path to where the charred ashes remained from a long dead stone fire pit. The wood stock was low just like the burning oils and she knew if she needed to burn the bones of the head she would need to use up most of their resources.

Yugito stopped beside the pit and began to pull down the logs and kindling. Sakura left the bag on the hip of the pit and dropped down to help with the work. There was oil to soak the wood and then Yugito was striking a match to start the fire while Sakura finished removing the teeth with a silver knife.

“Aren’t the teeth unless to you?”

“I’m going to make a necklace out of them and scare off all my admirers,” Sakura snidely answered, cutting free the last molar.

Yugito almost snorted. “What admirers?”

Sakura glared up at the blonde who was enjoying the joke far too much. “I have plenty of admirers. They’re just too shy to come knocking on my door.”

The bonfire crackled, snapping wood and swelling with new life. Sakura scoffed and tossed the head into the middle of the fire, making sure to soak it thoroughly before dropping it in. The head went up with a roar that turned the fire black for a moment before red and yellow colors leeched back into the flames.

The light didn’t bother her, so Sakura sat at the edge of the pit and stared into the flickering tongues that devoured their bounty. It would be another two hours before the bones became brittle enough to grind down into an ash they could scatter into the waters, but she wasn’t looking forward to watching a fire for so long.

“You shouldn’t resist it when Samui requests your service.”

Sakura looked up and saw Yugito’s teasing expression gone, replaced with something more somber.

“Of course you would say something like that. You wouldn’t understand how terrible it would feel to have someone telling me what to do. You’re used to it, solider girl.”

“You were a solider once.”

Sakura felt the weight of the rifle on her back without reaching for it. “Even when I was with the Brzoza army I was a contract to them. I did only what I wanted.”

Yugito made a noise in her throat that sounded thoughtful as the flames climbed higher. More wood sunk into the heart of the pit. “You killed men and women.”

Sakura ripped at the weeds under her knuckles and tossed fistfuls towards the fire, watching them fall short. “Yeah, that usually happens when there are wars. Who didn’t kill someone?”

“Was that what you _wanted_?” 

Sakura pulled more of the weeds, turning over topsoil without the roots to hold it in place. “I wanted a lot of things I never saw. I made my bed with the least of my devils so I could sleep at night and I’m not apologizing for it.”

“I noticed.”

Sakura felt her lip curl but bit back her resentful comments.

Yugito had taken a seat in the grass beside her and was watching the bonfire burn like it was worth the attention. It crackled too loudly to hear any drifting conversation from the house, but that didn’t stop either girl from occasionally glancing up.

Down in the village proper another light went up and Sakura could see the smoke from the much larger bonfire set up to burn the rest of the body.The sky behind the smoke and flames was coloring in all the shades of twilight, signaling the drawing end of the burn.

The front door to the house squealed as it opened, and both girls looked up to watch across the yard as two figures emerged, lit from behind by the home’s light. Shikamaru and Choji looked tired, but it was the shorter of the two that was more obviously annoyed judging from his stance and posture.

Choji glanced up, seeing their fire, and when their eyes met he smiled to be polite before waving a single hand. Across the field, Sakura saw more of his frame and recognized him with a shameful slap. He had been the son of a lord and she didn’t remember most of those, but the Akamachi took their ancestors from the stories about giants and mountains. He was one of the tallest and broadest men she had ever seen, but he smiled like he was still a child.

“Those two shouldn’t have come on their own.” 

Sakura glanced sideways at Yugito. “Why would you say that? Someone was going to come eventually.”

“They didn’t respect the chain of command and subverted the Major’s authority on this matter. The skinny one was trying to be sneaky. That’ll come back to bite him if he’s not lucky.”

“Don’t you mean careful?”

“You can’t be careful enough to avoid exposing yourself forever.” She glanced back over at Sakura as the pair left through the gate, latching it behind them. “What will you do if you’re contracted again?”

Yugito was referring to when Sakura had been contracted by the Major in a not quite neighboring village to deal with an infestation problem gobbling up their chickens. Payment was coin, so Sakura took it, not knowing Sami’s own men were already handling the situation.

Sakura remembered being upset and demanding an explanation, but Samui just smiled, set the coins down, and said they would see each other again soon. Sakura hadn’t appreciated being played with, even if it did end up with her pockets filled and her debt lessened.

“If it’s a contract I’ll likely take it. Anything more…” She let her words hang as her eyes narrowed in on the fire. “I’m not a dog.”

“Well, we will see what they have to say in the morning, won’t we?”

The bonfire crackled as logs collapsed in on themselves, black and burned through. It was a long while before either girl spoke, but it was Sakura who lifted her face from her knees and asked, “What do you think they’ll do once they leave?” 

“I’m not sure. Your guess may be as good as mine. What do you think they’ll do.”

The question made Sakura’s stomach roll. She didn’t want to think that she might have to be a cog in their plans. It was the last thing she wanted.

“Like hell I would know what your people do. It’s no business of mine until they make it mine. They can do as they please.” Sakura moved to stand but Yugito’s arm was an iron hold that yanked her back down.

“Hey,” Yugito began without letting go. “You should quit that bad habit of yours, least it land you in more trouble. You’re alive thanks to their mercy, _our_ mercy. You think every birch colored guttersnipe made it out as nice as you? You think they all got to keep their heads and their freedom? After all the blood you spilled we dressed you in _our_ colors and saved the chains for someone else.”

“The war had ended. Isn’t that what civilized principalities do? You dress everybody up like you and pretend that means something. I may be wearing your colors, but I haven't forgotten how this all started.”

Yugito’s eyes were cold and narrowed as she released her hold on Sakura. “For someone who killed so many you don’t seem to have a lot of reverence for the dead’s mercy. Plenty of people who doesn’t even know your face still hate your guts for what you took from them.”

Sakura felt the coldest corner of her heart and settled into it as she met Yugito’s stare with one of hers. For all the national pride Yugito had been forged with, Sakura knew she could match it with her own indifference.

_A hundred bodies didn’t change that. Her lover screamed until he couldn’t anymore. The valley echoed a second time with Sakura’s shot._

Sakura swallowed and stood, breaking free. “Let them hate me. See if that opens any graves.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! I've been meaning to get this one out, but life has been a bit busier than I would prefer with Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, and other seasonal activities sapping my energies and time.
> 
> One of my favorite conversations/lines was in this chapter and I remember sending just that clip to a friend because I was proud (and surprised?) with how it came out. I'm delighted the characters are coming together in a more real way and now have a mission together (of sorts).


	8. Chapter 8

She came in with a pair of hand axes strapped to her back and the familiar rifle hanging between them. The sharp parts of each ax was covered in a leather hood, but their presence still managed to intimidate.

“You’re prompt,” Samui commented, eyeing the point of the rifle peaking up over the younger woman’s shoulder.

“Would you have preferred I waste your time?” Sakura asked, casting sideways looks about the room, likely recognizing it from before the group had taken up residence. The boy from yesterday, Konahamaru, had greeted her fondly and the pair seemed familiar with each other. Choji wouldn’t have been surprised if it turned out she had been in the dinning hall before. The way Konahamaru carried on with her, it was more than likely.

“Thank you, both of you for coming. Would you take a seat so I could get started?”

Yugito moved to place a hand on the back of a chair but Sakura just crossed her arms over her chest and leaned heavily on her back leg. Yugito didn’t pull out the chair, but left her hand there. It was like what Shikamaru said, that Yugito wouldn’t do anything without Sakura for some reason.

“Just get started,” Sakura said, tone too quiet to sound angry.

“You have a skill I would like to utilize. We’ve had issues with creatures similar to the one you dealt with yesterday. You did what twelve men could not. Work for me.”

“No thank you.” She didn’t hesitate and her arms stayed crossed.

The major didn’t so much as blink. “I wasn’t finished.”

“No, but _I_ was.”

Samui picked something up from beside her plate, a stack of letters, and tossed them across the table. There were enough to weigh something that kept them from fluttering backwards, but when they landed they fanned out. Sakura glanced at them, but didn’t stop to read any in detail.

“Let me summarize, in the past month There have been seventeen men and nine women confirmed killed from incidents inside the acquired lands. In Niebieski Proper there have been seven more men and three more women dead. Unconfirmed missing is closer to eighteen now that Kiser’s group has fallen out of contact. Two months ago these men and women were drinking to the end of a war, now I’m writing their families letters home.”

“That’s not my problem,” Sakura said, voice barely more than a whisper as she kept as much of her feelings from coloring the tone of her words.

“It’s your country too, Snake Skinner, and it needs you again.”

Choji watched Sakura’s chest expand with the deep breath as her eyes flashed. He didn’t know for sure what she felt when she heard those words, but he knew if he had been in her shoes, he would have felt disgusted. He still felt a little disgusted to wear a blue uniform when he had grown up dreaming about pearl colored waistcoats.

“I’m not interested in leaving this village for you,” Sakura finally managed. “This is where I’m supposed to pay off my debt.”

Samui waved a hand while reaching into the breast pocket of her navy blazer. She pulled out a thin, white stick of packed tobacco and turned it over her fingers. “You’ve done it before. You’d do it again if given the right incentive. What’s a little side trip?”

Yugito reached across the table and picked up one of the letters half buried under other. She unfolded it the rest of the way and then touched Sakura to get the other girl’s attention. “This is from the Crowned Prince.”

Shikamaru stiffened and on the other side of the room, Omoi and Karui who looked less awake than logs up until that moment, straightened in place. Sakura didn’t flinch, but Choji saw her hand curl under her elbow.

Samui hummed, setting the cigarette between her lips and lighting it with a silver lighter. “Yes, that’s right. He’s found others who are willing to help, or his subordinates have. I’d like to count myself among those ranks, but you should know that you’re not the only one who claims to be special enough to bump back against the things from the night.”

“Then you could find someone else.”

“I don’t want to. I found you, and you’ll do just fine.” She pinched the white roll between two fingers and pulled it away from her lips long enough to exhale a stream of smoke. “Besides, you owe me your pretty white neck already. Why don’t you show your gratitude?”

“If you want my neck, take it, but I’m not wearing a collar for you.”

Choji swallowed, feeling unsettled all over. Her words seemed to break something in him that made him feel the same sort of pain that came from pressing on a bruise. He wanted her to win, to rebuke Samui in a way he never could.

The major lowered her lashes and stared out from under their pale shadows. “I was afraid you would say something like that. Really, I wished we could have done this more amicably.”

That was when Yugito found something under the letters that made her call out to Sakura again. “It’s your debtor’s contract.” Yugito passed it over to Sakura before turning to where Samui stood. “What’s it doing here?”

“I bought it,” the Major responded easily.

Sakura’s reaction was instant. Her body went tense and her breath caught in her throat as she met the Major’s eyes. The hands gripping the contract shook.

Choji’s heart hurt again, but this time he recognized the pain. It felt like he was hearing the threats all over again, that his obedience as a political prisoner meant his family and his people would be spared the weight of Niebieski’s armies. He remembered that agony too well when he watched the recognition spread across Sakura’s face. It hurt too, but he watched her expression turn sick and almost looked away.

The Major replaced the cigarette between her lips and stood. Behind her there was a window nearly filled with light that made her face something more shadow than sight.

“You can’t do something like this to me. You have no right-”

“I have every right,” Samui snapped. “My men and women are dying from a new world’s horrors. Don’t think I won’t make myself horrible to survive it.”

“It’s not forever, you can pay this off,” Yugito urged. Choji watched her tug the contract out of Sakura’s hands and fold it up. “It’ll take some time but it won’t be forever and the work we’ve already done can count towards it.”

“What work?” Omoi asked, speaking up for the first time. There was an eagerness in his tone that only seemed to emerge when it came to the crypts and monsters.

“Nothing counts before today, but it’s valid experience.” Samui stuffed her cigarette into a silver tray set next to her breakfast dishes and then pushed them all aside, clearing a place on the table.“Shikamaru, where is that report I asked you to look over?”

Shikamaru approached the table and pulled out the papers he had found in his room last night. “There have been changes in the typography of the region that have been confirmed from multiple parties. One of the mountains that suddenly appeared when once there had been none, also seems to house something that’s been snatching stragglers and livestock.”

“And that’s all you know,” Sakura guessed, crossing her arms and hunching her shoulders again as she approached the side of the table where Shikamaru stood. She nearly drew even with him, shoulder to shoulder matching his height with hers.

“You know everything we do now.” Shikamaru glanced from her to the report before checking back over his shoulder for Choji. “Are you familiar with the area at all?”

“Burza, it’s a town much larger and much closer to your capital. It’s not been a part of the old country since well before the war. Most of their oldest stories have been forgotten or lost, so no, I don’t know anything,” she answered easily.

Choji frowned, feeling like her tone didn’t fit. A moment later the reason for his discomfort whispered in his ear like the voice of his conscious. ‘ _She’s lying_.’ Of all the things she could lie about, she chose to be dishonest about stories? What did that mean?

Samui waved at the report, gesturing for Sakura to take it. “Matters little to me. We’ll leave tomorrow morning. You have the rest of the day to put your affairs in order. I don’t anticipate coming back here for another month, so don’t leave anything unfinished if you can help it.”

Choji felt like starving when she turned on her heel and exited the room, the blonde girl like a shadow behind her. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time, but was slowly starting to remember, was the energy of a magic’s idleness, simmering in the air. He hadn’t recognized the feel of magic in a room since he was a child, and his mother said that he likely never would again, but like how he knew she had been lying- _how did he really know?_ -Choji also knew that there was magic in her that left when she did.

He also knew he craved it more than anything.

“Are we done here?” Omoi asked, interrupting Choji’s train of thought. Beside him, Karui jabbed at his ribs. “Ouch, woman, I have plans, okay!”

“We’ve been here a day, how do you already have plans?”

“Some of us take out roles seriously. I’m purchasing what is left of the creature’s remains. The bitch told them to burn everything else so I have to pay through the nose for what’s left.”

“If she told them to burn the body it’s probably for a good reason,” Choji heard himself interject.

Karui and her cousin stiffly turned to stare across the table to where Choji stood with mirrored looks of incredulity. Even Samui stared up through her lashes from her seat at the head of the table. It made his ears burn and Choji remembered how rare it was for him to speak at all, much less out of turn. 

Omoi’s lip curled. “Of course we’d expect one bumpkin to defend another. Superstition doesn’t help but the swindler and I’m not interested in old wives tales.”

His cousin snickered beside him. “You’re just jealous because she’s a girl and knows something you don’t.”

The pair began to bicker in a way that only siblings and the closest of friends or relatives could. 

“That doesn’t matter, Omoi,” Samui interrupted, sounding annoyed with their bickering. Both stopped at once and turned to face her, standing more stiffly at attention. “You’ll be working alongside her so watch carefully and learn all you can.”

“Of course,” Omoi chanted, pulling himself up to his fullest height and looking up.

Samui grunted, settling back into her seat and waving them off like an afterthought. “Fine, then the rest of you can all scatter too. I have reports to write.” 

And Choji knew a dismissal when he heard one, even if it wasn’t official anymore, so he let himself out, not minding if Shikamaru was behind him or not.

Choji heard Shikamaru turn down a hallway and realized a moment later that his friend was heading towards the study where Sarutobi, the village leader, often hung out reading. It was rare to find a village so far from the main roads with such a high literacy rate, much less a house with as many books as Sarutobi actually had. The only two left in the hall were Choji and the grandson.

Konahamaru, was coming in from outside with an expression caught between anger and confusion. He looked up when he heard Choji approaching and deposited the bowl he had been carrying on the nearest surface.

“Is that true? You’re leaving tomorrow?” he blurted, sounding panicked.

“I thought you might be happy to have us out of your hair. You’ll get your old room back.”

“You’re taking Sakura with you, even though she just got back.”

Choji blinked, realizing a moment too late what that look on the young boy’s face must have meant. “She’s going to work for the Major, yes. She’s really skilled and we need her help.”

Konahamaru’s expression twisted for a moment, like it was a spasm he couldn’t help. “She helped out for four years and she only just came home with less than nothing to show for her efforts. Can’t you take someone else?”

“I-I’m afraid not. Sorry.”

But Choji wasn’t really sorry, he just hoped he sounded it. Maybe that made him a bad person, but he never asked for anything so selfishly.Omoi would tease him the whole way there, and the Major would try to give him orders only to end up disappointed with his share of the efforts, but maybe with Sakura on the road it wouldn’t be so terrible.

“You couldn’t just ask for taxes and be happy with that. This is worse.”

“I’m sorry it had to be under such unpleasant circumstances that we take your friend away. I can see the two of you are close.”

Konahamaru turned pink up to his ears and his expression twisted again. “N-no- not even.” He backed up towards the table, grasping for the bowl he had left behind earlier. “It’s n-not that at all!” he yelled before barking back outside, the way he had come.

Idly, Choji guessed that the boy had to be at least five years younger than Sakura.

On his own, Choji stopped by the pastry he had been recommended and bought a spread of different treats, most of which were for himself to munch on as he made the trek up the road to the houses among the hills. He remembered the way to Sakura’s house well enough without Shikamaru guiding him along.

There were paintings on the fence posts that meant more than just beauty. Each post had a little bit of a story to it, and Choji recognized more than he thought he would when he paused to look them over. Looking at the scenes of firebirds and Leshy and the mad wolves of the forest made him feel small again.

“There are more on the house.”

He looked up, started to see a young woman standing with a basket of eggs resting on her hip. Choji recognized her right away, even without the bloodstains on her teeth.

Choji coughed nervously and tried not to stand too tall from on the other side of the gate. “Shizune, the apprentice to the Story Keeper. They had said you have been sick, so I’m glad you’re up and…gathering eggs.” 

“Come in Choji Akamachi. There is a part of the mural I think I should show you,” she chuckled, like the discomfort he tried to hide was somehow amusing. It probably was.

“Oh, I-um actually I was here to see if I could talk with th-with Sakura and if she was hungry…” he let his words hang as he held up the paper bag from the bakery.

“Sakura prefers more sour foods, but I’m sure she’ll appreciate the effort when she gets back,” Shizune said, laughing with her eyes more than her voice. “Want to come here now?”

Choji hiked his shoulders even more and moved the gate open to let himself in and latched it behind him, absently taking note of the white snake with red eyes glaring back up at him. He wanted to say he recognized it from somewhere not a story.

“Is-Is Sakura here?” Choji asked, pointing to the front door even as he approached Shizune.

“No, she went out to gather firewood. We used up a good chunk of our stock last night and she was worried about us not having enough through the winter. I don’t think she’ll be back soon.”

That wasn’t good news for his barely warm pastries, but he supposed that was for the best. He had picked out sweet things for her but he would be smarter next time. Maybe lemon tarts would be a good idea.

“Here,” Shizune called, interrupting his thoughts.

He followed her over to the opposite side of the house to stand beside her and look up at what she was pointing to. He recognized it too fast for coincidence. The painting belonged to the hand of an artist he didn’t know, but the figures were ones he would recognize anywhere.

“The giants of our valley, the ones who dug up and made out hills with the dragging of their feet after they built up the spine’s mountains,” she said.

Choji didn’t look away from the painting, breath barely held in his throat. “I-I thought you would believe the story about the spine being the leftover backbone of a…a titian.”

“Maybe, but a backbone wouldn’t make mountains like that. Regardless of what lies underneath, the story says that we have two giants to thank for our landscape. Oak-ripper and Cliff-smasher.”

Choji remembered than the giants had different names in the old language, but that was a banned thing and only the story keepers and direct desendents would know such details.

His mother knew the name of the Oak-ripper.

On the side of the building there were two men taller than forests who were stepping around the wrinkles in the earth their clubs dragged up. One had dark hair and a full beard but wore a wolfskin. He had been raised my the mountain wolves as a child. The other giant had fiery red hair and apple colored cheeks to complement his smile. He wore a bear’s pelt after the she-bear that raised him as a babe.

“Funny how half of the mountains they said to have built aren’t even there,” Choji sighed, tempted to chuckle in affection for the familiar characters.

“They came back though.”

He turned around to see her staring up at the paintings with an easy smile. He wondered if he had misheard or maybe misunderstood her. “What came back?”

“The landscapes. The castles and the corners of the world too soaked in magic to float until now. The mountains are back, when before they had been barren landscapes. Isn’t that something you’ve read about in those reports from the Blue City?”

He remembered a little too well the reports he helped Shikamaru sort from greatest importance to least. At the bottom there had been reports of structures and valleys and mountains that hadn’t been there the week before. Shikamaru had thought most of them to have been cause by earth shifts and erosion. Few knew the lands well enough to even notice such changes.

“Huh? H-how would you know about something like that? You’ve been here the whole time, sick in bed.” 

“ _Seeing_ things, remember?”

Choji shrugged. They had explained it to both him and Shikamaru that Shizune had visions which caused her sever headaches, and while Choji was a bit more prone to believing in the unexplained, the pair of them had shared a look between themselves and politely nodded along.

“You believed the stories about Sakura, didn’t you?”

“That’s different,” he objected. Her stories were things he lived through. The bodies of his enemies weren’t dreamed up.

“Was what she did something you think any normal person could do? Never miss a shot? Killing from as far as the eagle’s flight.”

“That’s all possible.” He gestured with his palms out, hoping she didn’t take offense to his words. “I mean, a lot more than seeing the future is.”

Shizune watched him a moment more and then nodded “I suppose you’re right. I haven’t see the future in a concrete sense, only opportunities and possibilities. The past is a different story though. Would you believe me if I told you I could see that?”

“I wouldn’t want to disbelieve you, no.”

“Wanting doesn’t make things true.”

Choji turned back to look at the side of the house at the two giants. “I remember my mom telling me stories even though she wasn’t a story keeper. I think I believe her stories happened….maybe so long ago when the world was different, but now….now they have beasts of metal that follow iron rails through the snow and summer. They have devices that can capture the likeness of you if you stand still long enough. There are lights that don’t need flames and…and it’s hard to believe in magic when you see them assemble such marvels in factories across the city. I’m sorry.” He hunched his shoulders and glanced back at where Shizune stood. “We’re not exposed to a lot of technology out here in the white country.”

“It’s a blue country now,” Shizune gently corrected. She didn’t seem to hold it against him that he had seen things she would likely never encounter, or that he seemingly didn’t believe her.

“I guess it is.” He stared back up at the giants captured in paint.

“Well, then take this as nothing more than the fever dreams of a sick woman, but when you leave with the girls, because Yugito will follow Sakura into death and to the edge of the world now, there may be things that you can’t explain. Sakura will have to become one of those things if she wants to survive, and so will you.”

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter before they hit the road!  
>  In my head there was a whole lot going on with Konahamaru and his backstory with Sakura, but so much of that just got cut during edits and I think what survived is enough to clue you in on how much of a crush he has on Sakura. Poor guy, he thought he would have a chance now that he was a little more grown up. Sorry buddy. You know how small towns/villages can be.


	9. (Talk shi*t get hit)

The back of the cart was as comfortable as she expected it to be. What made the trip out of her village so much worse than the one up was the company of the cart.

Yugito sat close, but she was the only one who did so. The two boys who had first visited Tsunade, Choji and Shikamaru, sat close to each other across from the others. Sakura suspected Omoi and Karui of being either siblings or cousins based less on how they looked and more on how they acted. Samui sat at the front with the driver, keeping watch and reading letters.

At times it looked like one of the boys, Choji, might try to say something to her and start up a conversation, but the cart was noisy and he never managed to start anything. It might of had something to do with the looks the boy, Omoi, kept sending their way, or it might have been just self preservation. No one wanted to start anything, be it a fistfight or a conversation.

After two days on the road Sakura was ready to respond to either.

“You look terrible,” Yugito laughed as they bent down to unroll their bed rolls in the dirt.

The Major, Omoi, and Karui all had space to sleep in the cart, but everyone else needed to sleep under it, in the mud and dirt, or out in the exposed air. They were off the road enough that it should be safe for one night, but Sakura doubted she’d be able to sleep. The war was over but too many men survived with wounds and debts larger than they knew what to do with. Even if they were in ‘victory lands’ there wasn’t really any place that could call itself safe.

Also, she was a sniper. She fared best when she was far removed from the conflicts.

“You ever say anything nice to me?” Sakura grumbled back. “Think on it, because I can’t recall a single sentence that wasn’t sarcastic, biting, or pointing out my flaws.”

“I’m just being honest.”

Sakura made a face at Yugito who smiled, unbothered.

“You girls seem to get along well.”

Sakura and Yugito both looked back to see where Shikamaru was kicking out his bedroll, seemingly unconcerned with the crooked way it unrolled. Behind him, Choji crouched on the ground and smiled over at them as he showed more care in preparing his bed for the night.

“It comes with time. I suppose the two of you are old friends,” Sakura hummed, knowing Yugito liked to make awkward silences and not respond to outside comments.

“Something like that,” Choji said. “Old houses, old friends, right?”

The Nara boy nodded, mouth twisting at the memory.

“How did you get mixed up with the Major?” Sakura asked. They had been there to see how Yugito and she got caught, so it was only fair Sakura knew their shameful story as well.

“Our fathers lost lands in the war, but recovered much thanks to our sacrifice,” Shikamaru recited, sounding like he was reading out of a musty old text book. He finished with a roll of his eyes. “We’re here working off a life debt the best we can.”

“I’m sorry,” she said with a bob of her head. “I know the feeling.”

“Maybe.” Shikamaru hummed, eyes drifting.

Yugito stood from her finished bed roll and moved on to where the fire pit would be dug. It was nearing the cold seasons so as warm as it was with sunset only minutes off, it would grow far colder before they were all fully rested.

“We need wood,” she said to Sakura who was already standing.

Shikamaru grumbled but it was Choji who stood first. “I’ll go with you,” he offered.

Yugito frowned at the offer but started to scrape out a pit alongside Shikamaru, using small hand tools that dangled from the bottom of the cart. The pit wouldn’t need to be anything extravagant since it only needed to last a single night.

Sakura took her rifle and her hand axes and stood to lead the way deeper int the brush and woodlands that stretched across parts of the main road. Finding wood would be easy.

“I have two in case you need one yourself,” Sakura called back, touching the handles of her axes.

“They don’t look meant for chopping wood.”

“No, but wood gives far faster than bone, and it’s all I have, so it’ll have to do.”

Choji jogged up beside her and kept an even pace. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Shizune mentioned you were the one that kept their wood shed stocked.”

“Shizune? The two of you spoke?”

“Mmh, just the once. She said something interesting about my heritage, but my intentions had been to try and speak with you before we left your village. I’m…really sorry the way this all happened.”

Sakura almost paused but recovered before he could notice how his words touched her. “It’s alright. I’ve brought this on myself. I supposed you can relate though. You had to give up more than me.”

“I do miss my mom and family. I’m hoping with good behavior they’ll let us go back and visit, at least for the holidays.”

Choji reached out ahead of her and pushed back a branch that she might of had to duck under. The wood creaked but complied, giving Sakura a chance to marvel at how his hands were large and thick enough to dwarf any other man’s. She swallowed and moved ahead, trying not to mind the new revelation or say something weird.

“There’s some fallen wood up ahead,” she said instead, confident in how her voice didn’t crack or sound breathless.

“Oh look at that, most of our work is done for us,” he cheer in good nature. His cheeks were red like apples when he smiled.

She swung one of her hand axes free and hacked off a branch just enough to tear free with her own strength. When she glanced up she caught Choji watching.

“Sorry, you wanted one?” she asked, turning her hand ax over to offer it up.

“You’re pretty strong yourself, but how about I break off what you cleave. I’ll finish what you start. It’ll go faster that way.”

She glanced down at his hands, stronger and thicker than hers and nodded, doing her best not to swallow too audibly. “Sure.”

She retired to the tree and made quick work of its most vulnerable parts. Every section she weakened and left behind was one Choji was able to finish for her with nothing but his bare hands. In no time at all they had a healthy pile between them and were heading back just as the sky turned from dull to dark. Choji needed his lamp but Sakura could see just fine in the dark, so she moved ahead and set the path.

There was fire in the bottom of the pit, smoking when they returned. Choji fed the smoke their lumber and Shikamaru fanned the flames until it was hot enough to catch onto the wood and crawl up.

Yugito passed out their rations and Shikamaru complained about fresh meat and made a point to look at Sakura’s rifle, but Sakura didn’t mind their stale food if it meant she didn’t have to hunt in an unknown forest. For all she knew, the hare was sacred to those trees, or the deer, or maybe the Leshy folk were just vicious to all humans. Maybe her prayers would do nothing.

“So you superstitious?” Shikamaru asked Sakura, across from the fire. It was the first thing said since their food had been passed out.

Sakura chewed on the salted meat. “What made you think that?”

Yugito held her meat on the stick over the fire to heat it before pulling it back to chew on. She didn’t say anything and neither did Choji.

“You’re from a story teller house. Tell us a story. We have a fire.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Choji interrupted. “That’s not a good enough reason for a free story.”

Sakura didn’t know what to say at first, since the words hadn’t come from her. She bowed her head a bit and glanced sideways at Yugito before returning to her meal. Shikamaru loudly scoffed and then handed over his leftovers to Choji, claiming he was too tired for more talking anyway.

Sakura didn’t look up ahead, even as she took first watch through the first half of the night, but she felt Choji’s stare on her, heavy like a coat, and it kept her warm until he too fell asleep.

On the third morning, they rose before the sun could burn of the fog that crept up from the moors. They were close to the town Burza, as hills and mountain peaks were traded in for denser forests and the occasional bog.By early afternoon it had started to drizzle, and not long after they saw the end of their travels as the silver gray walls of the town rose up out of the fog. The rain sheet distorted its grand edges, but Sakura could still see the size and depth of a town that could have been a city if it had more citizens and less refugees.

“I don’t see the mountain,” Yugito grumbled, scooting over to the edge of the cart so she could lean out for a better look.

But Sakura saw it. She pointed to a shadow just past the town, and as they drew closer, the others were able to make it out too, in spite of the blurring rainfall. It was the whole reason for the town’s panic, and Sakura had a suspicion as to why. Past the boarders and walls of the town, there was a mountain, barefaced and rough with stone, towering wide and tall over a town named after its storms. Through the sheets of rain Sakura saw the details of the mountain and grimaced at it’s ominous complexion. Parts looked naturally formed in the shape of a face, twisted and wide, but she doubted anyone else could see it with such detail through the rain. Those who lived at its base would eventually be subject to its horror.

“That’s a foul thing,” Sakura heard herself mutter as her eyes stretched wide to see further and clearer than any human could dare. It looked impossibly ancient and weathered considering it’s sudden appearance. 

“What are the chances that they never noticed it through the rain?” Omoi asked, sounding as miserable as they likely all felt after so long on the road, sleeping in bedrolls under the cart. He was rubbing his tailbone and back as he peered out the front of the cart to see better.

“Considering the people have lived here for hundreds of years?” Shikamaru snorted. “Not likely. It’s likely something caused by natural earth movements like a quake.”

“A quake that no one felt?” Omoi snapped back, annoyed that Shikamaru was speaking back to him. Sakura had noticed that his sister or cousin could nag him all day long without consequence, but Omoi wouldn’t take snark from anyone else, save his commanding officer.

Shikamaru threw his arms behind his head and leaned back, closing his eyes. “Still more likely than it having been there for years.”

Omoi moved back away from the front entrance and moved his glare from Shikamaru to Choji, and then to her and Yugito. “Are you going to say anything?” Omoi asked, looking at the pair of them.

Sakura glared back over her shoulder, and pulled her rifle closer. “I shoot things, what do you want me to say?”

“Aren’t you here because you know about ‘strange’ stuff?” The boy crept closer and then squatted down just outside of her arm’s reach. “You gonna say it’s magic or some witchery?”

“Witchery is a small magic, if you wanted to move a mountain you’d need a sorcerer,” Sakura muttered under her breath, almost tempted to keep her mouth shut and avoid the whole conversation, but the long lonely road made her itch for confrontation in an unhealthy way.

“That sounds like a load,” he laughed. “Your granny tell you that? No wonder your people don’t even have railways. Is that only something an alchemist can do?”

Sakura felt the itch all the way down to her teeth. She rolled her rifle off her shoulder for Yugito to catch and climbed to her feet. She was tall for a girl, born into a family of tall women, and Omoi claimed he was still growing as he had to look up to her.

Omoi stood up from his crouch and pulled himself as straight as he could under the tarp of the cart’s cover. He was just a half of a head shorter than her.

“Tell me, you ever been hit for that mouth of yours?” Sakura asked, tone just barely even as her eyes saw every muscle move under his skin. Behind him, Karui watched on nervously, unwilling to stand up or say anything in spite of her clear investment in the outcome.

“You can’t hold it against a man for speaking the truth.”

Sakura just barely admired his courage, and might have sat back down again if he hadn’t brought her Baba into it. “It’s a pity then, you never learned.”She reached out and ripped at one of the medals on his uniform, tearing it easily. She dropped it to the ground between them and fisted her hands over her hips. “I _dispute_ it.”

Samui stopped the cart harshly and Sakura had to bend at her knees to keep from lurching like Omoi did. The driver turned around, eyes wide with curiosity as Samui started to climb back over the front seats into the bed.

“What is the meaning of this?” she snarled, eyes going straight to the medal on the floor. “What are you-?”

“You don’t have any right,” Omoi interjected. “You’re not ranked.”

“She’s still a solider of the Niebieski military as per her pardon guidelines. She has every right,” Yugito corrected, smile curling at the edges as she gleeful watched the expressions of exasperation take over everyone in a blue uniform. “And she just disputed.”

“You don’t understand what you’re doing. The implications of a dispute aren’t something you can use to settle petty arguments with. You understand nothing, girl,” Sami said.

Sakura felt her hackles rise, invisible currents of energy that hummed in her anger. She moved her glare like a beam onto Samui’s face and spoke. “I know enough to teach a spoiled brat to taste the weight of his words. I’ve disputed his rank, he gets to choose the method of settlement. Guns, sir?”

“Hell no, I know better,” Omoi replied, flaring up with his own anger as Samui turned on him, real worry in her expression.

“Omoi, don’t entertain this. She’s not worth it,” Samui hissed, sounding more like a mother and less like a superior. It was almost like, in spite of her rank, Omoi mattered more. Maybe he did. He was a part of the royal family and not a dethroned people, grappling with their place in the world.

“Sure,” Sakura chuckled, rolling her shoulders like easy waves. “You could deny it if you wanted. No one would hold it against you.”

But Omoi was young and Sakura had poked him where it mattered. He stepped forward into her space, face set in a scowl. “Outside, hand to hand, now.”

“At least wait-” Samui began before cutting herself off, realizing there was less of an audience on the road in the rain than there would be inside a city sized town. She swallowed and then nodded to the pair. “Fine. We take cover in the trees. That land is soaked.”

The Major leaned down next to Omoi and whispered about weight, speed, and mud but Sakura didn’t bother to eavesdrop as she shed her blazer and tugged her hair up into a bun made out of twin braids. Shikamaru and Choji were already scrambling out with Yugito tagging close to their side to find the driest place they could.

The clearing they found was dark and shaded, but it wasn’t nearly as soaked as the open road. Sakura had only been in the rain a few minutes but the mist dampened everything and she knew she would be shivering if she didn’t get moving soon. She itched all over.

“He’s been well trained. He has a good stance,” Yugito warned before leaving Sakura’s side with all the things illegal to keep in your pockets during a fight.

They stood apart from each other, dirt sagging under their soles. Sakura held her fists up and Omoi crouched with hands raised in a much more stylized stance Sakura recognized. He had been well trained from an early age, she could see the way his body just flowed into stances and forms so naturally. He was a brat, but he wasn’t a slacker.

Samui shouted out and Sakura moved first. Omoi was ready for her and blocked her strikes with upward parries that left her open and off balance. He didn’t hesitate, but jabbed at her ribs the first chance he got. Sakura tried to bring her arms down on his fists but he backed out, faster than her.

Sakura coughed feeling the wince of her ribs hurting. It almost made her grin.

She charged again, shouting this time and the striking out with her leg, faster than before. He avoided the sweep and the high kick, but her momentum brought her close and he hadn’t anticipated her skull being a weapon that came down hard on the bridge of his nose. He reeled, bleeding and crying.

“ _Brutish_ ,” Karui yelled from the sidelines. “Give it back to her, Omoi!”

They weren’t fighting till first blood, there were not daggers for that. With just their fists and their wits, it was until whoever went down first that defeat was due.

“Get back here,” Sakura snarled, launching for him with no form of her own.

Four years had taught her what the soldiers dressed in Birch white knew, but years of brawls before that made he limber. He sidestepped and avoided her swipe, but couldn’t rebound in time to attack himself.

“Where do get off with such sloppy footwork?” Karui screamed.

Her voice set something off in Omoi and the fear that drove his retreated ebbed out of his body, and he was master of his form once more, catching her arm and turning her around so that she stumbled out of his way and left her back open for his elbows to jab.

Sakura choked at the bolt of pain, and knew he was fully aware of where he needed to hit her to do the most damage. Someone had taught him well, and he had listened.

Sakura let her whole body drop to the ground and didn’t care how wet or muddy that made her, she lifted her legs up over her head and kicked before flipping over herself and springing further away. With the new distance he launched herself into his space and then stoped just short to draw out an attack before moving back in. She reached for his torso and caught him in a grapple she carried to the ground.

He thrashed in her hold but she held him tight, knotting her hands and elbows together to bind him. For a moment she remembered the skeletal snake on her rifle, yawning wide with thick fangs just over the trigger like a warning not to hesitate. She would be a strong as she needed to be, strong as a snake.

He jabbed at her sides as best he could, but he couldn’t pull his hands back far enough to do anything that actually hurt. She pulled up her legs around him to keep him down and his movements turned even more violent, as he realized how strong her hold really was. True, she had been a snipper and was worse than death behind a rifle, but she was also a work hand and lumber worker, and Yugito made her spar each morning before chores. So close, he could feel the size of her arms under her sleeves.

‘They’re not pretty, but they get the work done,’ she remembered telling herself when she saw her own reflection and forgot what a girl was supposed to look like.

He wasn’t going to get out of her hold on his own but he wasn’t tapping out, so Sakura pulled back her arms and used her hips to turn him over, pushing his face into the mud, pinning one hand with hers while forcing her other elbow up behind his skull to keep his face down.

“Done?” she asked, tone caught between wild and bored.

She had him, there was no denying it, but the itch wasn’t gone. His thrashing slowed and she moved back her elbow, knowing he felt it when the rest of her eased up. He took it and flipped her over, screaming and red faced. Sakura laughed and planted her foot on his chest, kicking him off her, over her head before climbing back up to her feet.

“Isn’t that it?” Shikamaru asked loudly from the sides. “She had him.”

“He didn’t consent,” the Major answered, sounding distracted as she watched the fight.

“Get her, Omoi!”

Sakura saw Shikamaru glance sideways at Yugito and huff. “Aren’t you going to cheer for her too?”

Yugito shrugged, eyes never leaving the fight. “I don’t need to.”

Omoi ran at her and Sakura met him head on, taking his hits because they allowed her to land strikes of her own, and her strikes were harder. She made him stagger and chased after him, following up one hit with another. She didn’t care where her blows landed, they were heavy and true and each one pushed him back.

“Stop her, she’s going to kill him!” Karui screamed.

Sakura grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him back against the trunk of a tree. He cried out from the impact and tried to roll free, but she was close enough to cage him in.

“I yield!”

Sakura stopped with her fist up high, the sudden lack of momentum making her sway. Omoi was looking up at her with wet eyes and a bloody nose that stained all the way down to his chin. The sneer was gone, and so was the itch.

Behind her she heard Karui curse. Samui didn’t say anything, but Sakura knew before she turned around, that the Major’s expression was murderous. Omoi just lost his rank because of her, and that wouldn’t do well if he wanted to advance anymore in his career. For a cousin to the Crown Prince, it was a humiliating blow, and one that would reflect poorly on his superior officer, but she had been within her rights and he had lost honorably. 

Omoi coughed and held himself, moving off the tree trunk and taking the first few steps away from her. He didn’t look back, and never saw her hand reach for his neck. Several people shouted at once but Sakura still threw Omoi to the ground and stood over him.

“The match is over!” Samui bellowed, rushing in as fast as Sakura had been to catch her shoulder and shover her off.

“Contact after a yield renders a dispute invalid you idiot!” Karui cruised, reaching for her relative. “You’re a brute, a savage, savage brute.”

Samui stood still as Omoi was helped to his feet, watching as Karui led him back to the cart. Shikamaru glanced between each of the spectators and turned to follow them back while Yugito reached Sakura with her blazer.

“The dispute is invalid,” Samui slowly repeated. “In spite of your victory, your poor sportsmanship has cost you your prize. He will keep his rank and you can walk the rest of the way behind the cart. Maybe by the time we reach the gates your head will have cooled down.”

Sakura had taken a hit to the jaw so she spit the blood from when she bit herself onto the dirt and accepted the blazer from Yugito. “Got it. Keep him on a better leash next time, or at least teach him how not to run that mouth of his,” she said.

“How my subordinates behave is my concern. You are out of line.”

Sakura glared from under her damp lashes. “He talks to me, it becomes my concern. Don’t baby your babies.”

Sakura let her shoulders catch Samui’s as she passed, not caring for the difference in their ranks as she made contact. The older woman glared hard back at Sakura, but Sakura was in no mood to entertain the Major’s ire so she kept walking.She passed Choji along the way, and only then did she realize he had been watching her the entire time.

The rain hadn’t let up, but still came down along with a cloud of mist that caught like pearls in her hair as she walked behind the cart. Yugito stood beside her for the first few minutes before Sakura’s insisting chased her back under the tarp. There was no use in the both of them getting soaked before they made it to their inn.

“You think it was worth it?” Yugito asked before returning to the cart.

“He needed someone to stand up to him and mean it. Spoiled rotten, through and through. You don’t keep bad fruit in the basket.”

“What about the blowback? The Major is going to take it out on you. Walking back in the rain is just the tip of her anger’s touch.”

“She’ll cool down eventually. He was just humiliated,” Sakura said. “It’s not like he actually lost his rank, just his pride.”

Yugito hummed, a knowing look in her eyes even as she frowned. “You’re not as stupid as you look.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Sakura demanded, but Yugito was already jumping into the back of the moving cart, out of earshot.

Sakura dug her hands deep into her pockets, hoping to keep them a little warmer if they weren’t soaked through like the rest of her. At least her blazer was stiff and thick enough not to lose it’s form under all the rain. Her tunic underneath stuck to each of her curves and hung close enough to leave nothing for modesty. She wasn’t looking forward to having to peel it off once they bunked down. She missed her furs.

They moved out from under the tree’s poor cover just as the main gates loomed into view. Off to the side on the old roads, abandoned and forgotten, Sakura heard horses and the clattery of a noisy rider, but didn’t pay it any mind as they stopped to show their papers and gain entry. Burza was one of the walled districts that still kept a close eye on who came and went.

Back before it lost its independence and became a holding of Niebieski, the city had prided itself with a host of roads in and out, as well as towers that reached for the sky where storm wizards kept the people safe. At least that’s what the stories her Baba told had to say. It had been centuries since someone last called themselves a wizard. What use did the world have for magic when men could divert lightning with metal and charge glass bulbs with bright energy?

Omoi wasn’t wrong to claim his principality as the stronger entity among all the princedoms under the Hostage Hoard and High King of the Nine. He wasn’t wrong to think their little villages and towns inferior because they still burned fire for light. He was wrong to mock them for it though, and Sakura didn’t regret throwing him into the mud for it.

There was a commotion behind her. Standing idle in the rain, Sakura glanced back, looking for the source of the noise, knowing she needed to find a horse. There was a glint of silver as one of the riders darted through the trees on a gray steed. Behind him trailed two others on similarly colored horses. Sakura almost didn’t care to see any more than that, but her eyes stung, daring her to look deeper and see further.

Across the distance on a forgotten road, three men in ancient armor with claymores strapped to their backs rode with the banner of a long dead king trailing behind them. Each one slipped into smoke once they exited the tree’s coverage, trailing like balls of gray along the way, disappearing into the side of the town’s walls, where once upon a time, there had been nothing to obstruct travelers.

Sakura turned back, looking to see if anyone else was watching the old road, but Yugito’s gaze was lazy, and Karui and Omoi stared off somewhere else. Shikamaru sat dozing, and Choji was somewhere in the cart she couldn’t see from her angle.

It had been years since the last man donned armor like that and carried a claymore. Wars were won with numbers and rifles. Not since men needed to conquer wild evils in the dark forests did they ride out looking like that.

“Sakura?”

She turned back and saw Yugito watching her intently.

“Are you okay? Is the rain getting to you?”

Sakura glanced back, swearing to herself as she saw nothing but trees and stone walls and empty air. There wasn’t even the echo of hooves clattering along the way. Yugito called her name again and she forced her attention back onto her friend.

“Yeah, I just thought I saw something.” 

“How many somethings?”

It wasn’t Yugito who had asked. Sakura jogged closer to the cart to see inside and noticed Choji standing closer to the front, near enough to see out from under the tarp. He had since turned around and was watching her. The waver to his stare made her swallow.

“Just three things.”

Slowly he nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sakura may be a sniper, but she's strong enough on her her own to throw hands when she wants to. She's done it before with boys in the village and she's got quite the reputation for it now. Omoi had to learn that the hard way.
> 
> Also.... How many of you caught Sakura checking out resident thicc boi Choji?
> 
> Thank you guys so much for showing an interest and reading this story of mine. I'm so in love with this world and hope it's a fun little trip for you as well. Some of the comments and questions have really just brightened my day. THANK YOU!


	10. Chapter 10

 -

Sakura shook off the wonder at what she had seen at the gates and followed the cart as it was guided in and through the streets. Not far from the wall they found an inn and paid for their cart to be stabled and horses fed. Inside the city there were arches that caught rain and ran it down like troughs. Between the arches there were tapestries that beaded the water and kept those underneath dry. 

The town grew to adapt to the natural state of things, and its layout reflected such forward thinking. It was easy to pass from one doorway to another while taking cover.

“It’s big,” Choji murmured, climbing out of the cart distracted with taking everything in. “It’s like a city.”

“It should have been a city. There’s just not enough citizens to qualify as one.”

“I see plenty of people though.”

Karui huffed loudly before jumping out of the back and turning to help Omoi down. “Most of them aren’t even citizens. It’s the town Niebieski filters most of its refuges to, in order to keep them out of the better developed cities. Ugh, do you think they’ll have electricity here?”

Omoi just groaned, keeping his head low as he headed in with her help and support. The Major had gone ahead to secure their rooms, leaving the rest of them to follow her in at their own pace. Sakura didn’t miss how Omoi refused to meet her eyes or even turn his face in her direction since the fight ended.

She didn’t think he would be talking back to her anytime soon, but wondered if that was because he had learned a little lesson, or he was just sore from the fight and his lost pride. Depending on how he treated others she would know better.

Sakura followed Yugito in after everyone else. In inside of the inn was warm, far warmer than the outside, and in that heat Sakura began to realize how cold she really had been. Her fingers felt it first, and then her ears and nose. She started to shiver as all the parts of her that had gone numb came back to life in pricks of pain.

Sakura hugged herself and hung back, taking no comfort in her layers because they were all just as soaked as her skin underneath.

“Here.”

Sakura glanced over and saw Choji with his jacket off. He was one of the few people she had to look up to, even when he hunched. He always hunched, especially when she looked at him. She blinked and then realized why his jacket was off.

“You’re offering me your uniform blazer?” she asked.

He smiled shyly. “Yours is soaked through and mine is dry and warm. I’ve been wearing it, keeping it toasty an all.”

Sakura shook her head and felt the wet slaps of loose hair smack her cheeks. “Thank you, but I’ll only get it wet too. I need to change out of these things first.”

“Then take it with you. You can wear it over your dry things if you want. I-I can get it back in the morning if I need it that bad.”

Sakura licked her lips and felt how rough they were in spite of all the moisture. She couldn’t remember the last time she actually drank something. She was hungry too. She hadn’t eaten since well before being kicked out of the cart.

Slowly, she reached out and took the jacket in her hands, feeling the warmth of it right away, thanks no doubt to his body heat. Choji was warm like that, she realized. 

“Thank you,” she softly answered. She held it close but not close enough to make damp.

His smile seemed to lift the rest of him up. She noticed he didn’t slouch as much when he smiled bright and full. It was better than the grins that barely made his head lift. She swallowed again and felt thirsty once more.

Yugito came up behind Sakura and tapped her on the shoulder. “There’s three rooms.” She pointed to the stairs at the back of the first floor where Karui was already climbing. “We’re sharing with her, all the boys share the second room, and Samui stays on her own.”

Sakura glanced back towards the stairwell, now empty. The last thing she heard from Karui had been angry words. Sharing a room would be interesting.

“I really want to get out of these wet things and in front of a fire,” Sakura admitted.

“There’s no fire in our room, but there’s a hearth downstairs and the chimney through the second and third floors can be used to dry things,” Yugito explained.At Sakura’s confused expression she grinned. “I’ve stayed in these types before. I’m of Niebieski, remember?”

“You should dry off before you catch a cold,” Choji offered. “They can bring food up to you if you need it. Shikamaru and I usually do that, but we might come down for it if Omoi wants the room.”

Sakura stiffened like an instinct and Yugito’s hand was there to feel it. “Come on,” she whispered to Sakura before leading her up the stairs to the room left open for them.

She was thankful, but not surprised to see Karui taking her things and heading to Samui’s room, glaring all the way down the hall. Sakura stood in the middle of the hallway and watched as the Major opened her door, sighed, and let the younger girl do as she pleased.

Sakura almost ducked her chin and averted her eyes when Samui looked up, but decided against it. The Major’s stare was cold enough to make the hallway feel chilled. Sakura remembered the last thing she said and then pushed into her room with Yugito leading the way.

Sakura started to peel her wet things off one by one, wincing as the cold corners of her flesh refused to move the way she wanted them too. She felt the shivers through her like tremors and collapsed into a ball the second she was bare. Her skin was red and hurting all over, caught between numb and living. Her hair was still wet on her neck, braided and frayed.

She heard Yugito curse under her breath as she set to pouring out water from a heated pitcher she took from the hallway where the chimney stack warmed all the wet things left on it. She helped wipe Sakura down with hot water and then started to pull their things out of the travel bags, but by the time she turned back around Sakura was already wrapping Choji’s jacket around her. It was long and large enough to curl up inside of.

“You’ll make his jacket damp.”

“It’s warm,” came Sakura’s muffled reply.

“Yeah, of course it is, he was wearing it and the boy is practically a furnace.” Yugito had a handful of clothes in her hands. “Get out, you’ll smell like him.”

Sakura inhaled the scent from the collar. It smelled like musk and little else for what she could tell. Better than the stale sweat or alcohol that she was used to from when she had been packed in between men in uniform, back when they still used the trenches. 

“It’s not that bad.”

Yugito didn’t say anything so Sakura turned halfway around to see behind her and groaned when she caught sigh of the curling cat like smile on her friend’s face.

“Don’t look like that,” Sakura groaned, closing her eyes again and sinking deeper into the warm fabric. “You’re thinking silly thoughts.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?” the blonde snickered.

“I just like the jacket.”

Yugito tossed a gray tunic at Sakura’s head and a pair of black trousers landed on the floor nearby. “Is it because you like your guys like that or is it the smile?”

Sakura peeked up over the collar’s edge. “What do you mean, _like that_?”

Yugito snickered. “A little more man than the average serving.”

Sakura paused for a moment and decided Yugito’s words weren’t malicious or even necessarily negative. “I’m not acknowledging anything. The jacket just smells nice.”

Yugito walked back around to her things and pulled out what she would need to change into later. “I wouldn’t be thinking less of you for your taste even if that was the case. Kid is practically a giant with a caramel center.” 

Sakura suspected Yugito was only still talking to pry something out of her so she stayed quiet. Yugito chuckled to herself and then cleaned up the mess made from her unpacking. “I’m going down to order us some food and then I’ll bring it up here. You can hang up your things on the racks at the end of the hall and then wait in here.”

Sakura rolled into a ball and stayed on the floor, too cold and tired to respond. She heard Yugito leave, shutting the door behind her. She even heard the footsteps that set the floorboards to creaking. When everything was still she roused and left the warmth of Choji’s jacket to dress in new, dry things. Her tunic had red and yellow flowers all down the front, clashing horribly with the clean cut of the uniform blazer she was expected to sport each day, but she didn’t care. She tucked her tunic into her high waisted pants and unbraided her hair, leaving it long and wild.

She carried all her wet things out into the hallway with Choji’s jacket on her shoulders to seek out the chimney stack she could hang her wet things on. She found it at the end of the hall and was pleasantly surprised to find hooks already in place to grab her wet things. Several other things were hung up to dry, trailing cloaks and shirts she realized, but there was still plenty of space to hang all her things. There were screens that folded out to shield the hanging garments and hold in some of the heat, and after only a few failed attempts, Sakura figured out how to pull them out to cover her things.

“I thought I heard something.”

Sakura went still and blinked hard before slowly turning to face the speaker in the public hallway. Omoi sniffle, rubbing his palm against the side of his bandaged nose, avoiding eye contact.

She didn’t know what to say, or what he was expecting her to say. What words could be spared between them that suited their situation. She had thrashed him in the mud and he had watched her walk the rest of the way back in the rain.

“I was hanging up my things.” Sakura stiffly pointed over her shoulder to the unfolded screens. “They were wet,” she added lamely.

“Ah, yeah. I guess they would be.”

Sakura scratched at the skin just above her left eyebrow, finding it hard to look at him. His nose was swelling but it didn’t look crooked. She couldn’t see any other bruises on his dark skin, but didn’t doubt he felt them. She had pulled her punches, but only slightly.

“We fought,” he said, speaking up first.

Sakura felt her eyes go wide, seeing everything with too much detail. She cursed her gift, wishing she had something more practical, like Baba Tsunade’s gift with plants and things that grow in the earth.

“Yeah. We did,” she said, wincing at how stiff she sounded. A wooden puppet would be more eloquent.

Omoi huffed, rolling his shoulders back and breathing deep. He looked up, eyes squinted, and she saw the effort it took him to look at her like that. “I’m sorry for what I said about your family. That was rude of me and I was beyond the pale with my words.”

Sakura didn’t know what to say. She had hoped, but hadn’t expected the staff captain to learn something from her fists. No one was in the hallway to see or hear his apology. He was speaking to her for no other reason than because he wanted to.

“Thank you,” she heard herself say. “I-it, it means a lot. She means a lot to me.”

Omoi nodded, glancing down at the threadbare carpet worn through in parts. “Yeah, I can forget that sometimes, that people love their families that well. I shouldn’t have said those things. I really am sorry.” He touched his face and winced. “Really sorry.”

Sakura almost laughed as she touched her ribs, a mirror of his actions. “Me too. You were a nasty lesson. My ribs will be sore for days.”

“You’re complaining?” he scoffed. He gestured to his face. “Where the hell does a woman get off being that strong. You looked like a flower and you’re supposed to be a sniper. Riflemen aren’t that strong.”

Sakura grinned with all her teeth and pushed up the long, billowing sleeves of her tunic all the way to her shoulder and showed off the lines of hard work that were often covered under fabric. Omoi might have paled a bit but Sakura wasn’t sure. “I’ve not thought of myself as a rifleman in months. I’ve been a hard working serf only fit to work in fields and woods.” She let her sleeves fall back down. “It’s what I did before and after I was in the army.”

“You’re sort of a monster.”

“You were still more skilled, I was just stronger and a lot angrier. I couldn’t compete with your years of training. It suited you well.”

“Not well enough.”

Sakura shifted her shoulders in a weak shrug. “Well, I was really angry, I wasn’t going to give in until all my bones were broken. Still, I wish I could have moved a bit more gracefully. I’m envious.”

He reached up and touched at the skin around his nose again, wincing. “Well, the forms taught in the Brzoza military are nothing to brag about in comparison to our heritage arts. It can’t be helped you lumbered through your movements.”

“Hey,” Sakura spoke up.

“If you want, I’ll teach you the forms.” When she didn’t respond right away he went on, dropping his hand from his face. “I can show you how I was taught to fight a little if you’re not too busy.”

“Thank you, I’d like that sometime. Are you sure _you_ won’t be too busy?”

“I’m plenty capable even with a little extra responsibility. I mean-I guess I could show you something here an there, something not even Yugito Nii would be able to show you. It’ll help make up for what I said.”

Something about the way he mentioned Yugito made Sakura pause. “Did you know Yugito before she-before the end of the war?”

“No, just knew _of_ her. She’s distantly related to the Major’s family, the old bloodline. I heard the rumors when she retired though. There were a lot of my people who were upset with her, but the Major said she understood. It’s a tradition thing for her people, you know, the originals.”

Sakura had spared Yugito’s life and Yugito had saved Sakura’s from fever. It should have ended their relations, but according to Yugito they were two threads entwined from then on. She would go where Sakura went, work where Sakura worked, sleep where Sakura slept, and eat where Sakura ate.

_‘Why?’_

_‘Because you were my enemy and I saved your life.’_

Sakura didn’t think she would ever understand Yugito’s way of thinking, but after several months of having a secondary shadow that sassed back, Sakura couldn’t find it in herself to mind anymore.

“Um, I was actually going downstairs for food. Are you joining?” Omoi asked.

Sakura felt a heat not quite pleasant in her stomach and knew it was hunger. She was thirsty too. “Dinner sounds amazing. I think Yugito went down to order for us, but I can join her in the common area.” She glanced down at her fresh socks and remembered her soaked boots. “Or I can take it in my room.”

Omoi frowned at her socks and disappeared into his shared room, emerging only a few minutes later with a spare set of boots.“You can borrow mine until yours are dry. Do you only have the one pair?”

“That’s all I own,” Sakura answered while accepting the shoes only half a size too big. “Thank you for this.”

He hiked his shoulders and turned to the stairs. “It’s not a big deal, don’t mention it.”

She followed him down and saw Yugito by the fire, watching the flames and waiting for her order of food to be prepared. Shikamaru and Choji were already at a table drinking and munching on cold snacks set out for them. They both glanced up when Sakura and Omoi came down together. Yugito glanced up from the fire, frowning. She noticed Sakura’s new footwear right away.

“Sit with us,” Choji called. With ease he leaned back to grab a nearby table and tug it over. Another patron looked up when he saw the table move and startled when he saw Choji’s size.

Omoi stomped over, looking decidedly anywhere but at the faces of the people watching him. He sat down across from the boys and Sakura drew closer to the table, but didn’t sit until she had managed to wave Yugito over.

“Karui and the Major not joining us?” Shikamaru asked, eyeing the barin front of the kitchen.

“Not likely. They’ll be eating in their rooms. Karui seemed upset and the Major is good at talking her through things. What did you all order?”

“I already put in a order for our food, but I’ll tell them to send it t this table instead,” Yugito whispered to Sakura before standing up and heading to the bar. When she came back a minute later she had spiced cider drinks for both of them.

“It’s finally the season for this,” Sakura sighed, letting the hot liquid burn a little as she tipped her drink back. Glancing up she saw the high beams running across the roof, thick and old and painted with designs that had nearly faded. The carved reliefs hadn’t faded though. She glanced about and saw knights, gray and armed in silver plate, The paintings on other beams, faded from years, were also of knights, but whole armies of them.

It made her think of a story.

She glanced back at the table as the food was brought out. Shikamaru was explaining how they would be heading out to visit the site with some locals once it was morning. Apparently there were caves they could explore and deem safe for others.

“I think they should still stay away from that mountain,” Sakura interjected.

Shikamaru looked up from his chicken with a bored expression. “Why, you think it’s haunted too?” Choji coughed and Shikamaru snorted at his friend’s reaction. “Besides you two, others have said they saw things in the rain like ghosts. It’s just paranoia.”

“What do you think the mountain is?” Yugito asked, looking to Sakura with expectation. She knew Sakura had a story.

Sakura paused, waiting for someone to mock her, but Omoi was staring down at his vegetables and Choji had leaded far over enough that he was pushing Shikamaru out of his seat. No one said anything to interrupt her, so Sakura sipped her drink and began.

“There was one a place with the best knights in the land, each one more noble and brave than a king. The were faster than lighting and fiercer than thunder. They rolled across the hills and through the forests in glittering armor and did many wonderful deeds. Years later people told the stories and sang the songs, decorating their homes with the likeness of the Storm’s Army.

There was a blacksmith in the village where these stories were told best, and one day he was approached by a boy dressed all in gray, asking him to travel to fit a shoe to a horse in the mountains. The man accepted with the promise of payment, and took his supplies deep into the forest and then deeper into the mountains.”

Sakura paused, glancing about the table only a little too delighted to see how everyone was listening to her. It was the best feeling and she was sad it came so rarely. She was no Shizune or Baba Tsunade.

“This blacksmith,” she began again, “came to a cave in the mountain where caves were as plentiful as trees. He had been told not to stray, for the other caves were filled with horrors and traps. Eventually he finds the end of the path and is amazed by what he sees. A grand hall, glittering with clear rock has been filled with the bodies of sleeping upright knights and their steeds. Some lay reclining but many stood frozen in a time all their own. The gray stranger instructed the blacksmith to change the horseshoe of one of the horses that was sleeping, so that’s what he did. While he worked he noticed that the horse did not move or give a signal of being uncomfortable.

When he was done he asked who the knights were that he had come to service and he was told that such a question would not be worth an answer, but he insisted, so the stranger told him. He said that these knights were too grad for death and needed in a far off war, so their long dead wizards wove them into a deep sleep for hundreds of years. They only would wake up if it is time to fight on a great battle. When such a day comes, the earth will move, there will be thunders to shake the sky made by the galloping of their hooves, many trees will fall and break behind them, and there would be the greatest of clamorings when the Spinal Mountains break. On that moment the knights will take their horses and they will gallop to fight once again, but not before.” 

“What happened to the blacksmith?” Choji asked, leaning forward across the table in his seat.

Sakura shrugged, struggling to remember the ending. It had been a long time and honestly, she had just been interested in the knights and warriors in such stories.

“He went back home with money from their treasures and was content for a while. He promised to keep the mountain a secret, but accidentally told his wife. She laughed at him until his pride became a rock in his chest. He left the next day to prove her wrong but could not remember the way through the caves. He fell into a trap and died. Not long after that the mountain disappeared and people forgot the way humans often do.”

“Is this the same mountain from your story?” Shikamaru asked, tone skeptical.

Sakura took another long drink and then licked her lips before filling her fork up with vegetables. “Maybe. It’s just a story, right?”

“And the ghosts people saw?” Choji prodded. “What were they?”

“Those were probably the spirits of the knights forced to sleep until the end of the world that roam free from their bodies during the long years. Nothing to worry about.”Sakura filled her mouth with vegetables and chased them down with heavier drink.

“It’s a neat story,” Omoi admitted, drinking something stronger than cider. “The Major will laugh at you if you share it though.”

“It’s just a story,” Choji sighed, sounding disappointed.

Omoi sighed, leaving a handful of coins on the table. He waved to the rest of the group before heading up. Shikamaru stood soon after and Choji stood with him. Sakura glanced sideways at Yugito to see if she was ready too, but the blonde was on her third draft and didn’t look ready to abandon her tankard.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” Shikamaru said around a yawn before heading up.

“Choji,” Sakura called, tuning in her seat to watch him leave. He stopped at the base of the stairs to glance back at her and she tugged at his jacket she still wore. She could fee the heat on her face but ignored it. “Thank you for this. I’ll return it in the morning.”

He laughed and it straightened him out, bringing him out of his hunching. “Take your time. You can return it when you’re ready.”

Yugito muttered something into her tankard once the boys were up the stairs and Sakura glared. Yugito kicked at Sakura’s boots under the table and then eyed the oversized coat that hung like a cape off her shoulders.

“My things were soaked,” Sakura mumbled.

Yugito glanced away, feigning indifference. “You didn’t ask _me_ for anything and we’re practically the same size.”

“You never offered.”

" _So_?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, shoveling the last of her vegetables into her mouth before standing. She chewed carefully while patting her pockets down for coins or letter of money she could leave on the table. Before she could find anything or panic, Yugito had dropped enough money for both of them onto the wood before glaring up at Sakura’s sheepish expression.

“Don’t be jealous,” Sakura tried. “I’ll pay you back later.”

Yugito tipped her drink back and swallowed the alcohol. “Idiot, like a person so far in debt could do that. Don’t worry about it. Go to bed before you catch your cold.” 

Yugito then got up to approach the bar and order another drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't forget about this, I promise. Life just happened. :)
> 
> Those asking about Omoi might get a sense of what he will be like for the rest of the story. He's not a terrible person underneath all those bruises, is he?


	11. Chapter 11

 

 

 

Sakura should have listened to the wisdom of her friend, but instead she checked in on her clothes, finding them still too damp to take and fold. That led to something else, and then that lento her wandering about, and when her feet wandered her brain followed.

She eventually made it into bed where sleep found her and held her tight. She woke in the morning with a fever and a pounding headache that traveled all the way down to her bones.

But at least her clothes were dry.

Sakura dressed in her things from yesterday, finding them dry, and folded up the jacket for Choji as well as the extra boots. She wiped her face down but still couldn’t shake the heat that made her skin flush. It was a little too obvious, but she could still stand, so she decided to ignore it.

Choji and Omoi were already downstairs when she knocked on their door, but Shikamaru took their things from her and said he would pass along her thanks.

Yugito stopped her on the stairwell. “Back to the room until it’s time to leave.” She held up two plates and raised her brows. “Back to bed. You have a fever.”

“It’s just a cold from the rain. Those always pass easy,” Sakura tried to explain, but Yugito forced her back to their shared room where they took breakfast together. Sakura only half tasted everything.

“How are you not hungover? You drank your weight in wine,” Sakura asked, watching Yugito for signs of any discomfort.

“It was ale, not wine, and it wasn’t that much. I wouldn’t get drunk from something so meager.”

“I learned something new about you,” Sakura hummed, closing her eyes. “Was it good ale at least?”

When Yugito didn’t respond right away Sakura opened her eyes and looked up. Yugito was staring at their mostly empty plates. “I wasn’t drinking it for the taste. It’s easier to not think about things when you’re sloshed full.” 

Outside there was a glow of morning light, but the air still smelled like rain and the clouds were thick and low throughout the sky. It would rain. “What were you thinking about?”

Yugito collected their plates and carried them as a stack to the door. “Your story,” she called before slipping out to return the dishes.

Left alone, Sakura played with the high waist of her pants, feeling around for the fabric doll she had made during the celebration of Confluence. It was still there, making her smile. It had gotten a little wet the other night, even with all the layers over it.

“Am I sick because I let you get wet too?” she asked out loud. The doll stayed silent but Sakura didn’t mind. She hadn’t been expecting an answer.

In the corner of the room closest to her bed her rifle stood up, leaning against the wall. She could see the carvings of enchanted horses and eggs with words inside. The skeletal snake with its jaws open wide over the trigger stood out. She reached for it to slip over her shoulder while pocketing the doll once more. She was fixing her pants when the door opened and Karui poked her head in. “We’re heading out. You’re backup. Be ready in three minutes.”

“I’m ready now,” Sakura answered, pulling the front parts of her blazer together.

Karui didn’t say anything, but left the door open for Sakura to leave through.

Outside, everyone was mounted on a horse except for Yugito and the Major. Both women were talking to am older man who looked like the local who had first requested their service. Sakura came up behind them catching only bits of the end of their conversation.

They were going to the mountain.

The Major turned to face Sakura even as Yugito brought her horse over. “You’ll be watching our back. There’s a ledge you can plant yourself and keep watch with your rifle.”

“You’re going into the caves?” Sakura asked.

Samui waved her away and turned to her own steed. “Of course we are going to check if they are safe. Mount your horse, we’re wasting daylight.”

Sakura felt the wrongness of it in her bones, but took the bridle for her and swung up into the saddle. “But I won’t be any good as a lookout if you go into the caves. I can’t protect anyone in there.”

“You’ll do fine making sure no one follows us _in_.”

“That won’t be enough to keep you safe.”

“You have your orders.”

Sakura wanted to say more but the group was pulling away from her, easing their mounts into a canter out of the district and onto the road that was old but direct, ending right at the base of the twisted looking mountain. It was dark with heavy clouds, but there was no rain this time to obstruct their view of the face like shape of the structure. It was enough to spook one or two of the horses, but Karui was good at handling her frightened animal.

Yugito pulled away from the group, gesturing for Sakura to follow her to the cliffs she would perch at to better watch out for anything that might come up on their backs. 

“I know you wanted to stay with me, but won’t you go with them?” Sakura asked, still in her saddle. 

Yugito turned her horse around, pulling back so they were even with each other even if they faced different directions. “You’re not well. I should stay at your side.The major can manage with only her own.”

“I don’t doubt that, but I’m worried about Choji and Shikamaru. She doesn’t look out for them like she does the rest,” Sakura admitted. 

Yugito spared a glance back over her shoulder. “And why do you care about those two?”

“We were comrades once. I can’t forget that so easily.”

Yugito’s lips tugged down into a frown. “Sakura…”

“Please. They need you more than I do. Trust me, that cave isn’t all that it seems.”

“Your suspicions are misplaced. It’ll be fine. People have already visited most of the caves and no one has gone missing, it’s just freaking them out until it’s officially investigated.” 

“I shouldn’t be separated from the rest of the group, but the Major is petty about some things. Just go with them,” Sakura asked. When Yugito glanced up sharply to meet her eyes Sakura went on. “I was put on this team to help this group and I can’t do that for anyone if I’m stuck where I can’t _see_ any of you. At least with you down there, I feel more at ease.”

“I’m not here for their sake.”

Sakura smiled, knowing well and good the weight of Yugito’s words. “I know. But this is for me. I will have no peace until either you or I are allowed to venture with the party into the caves. Do you see the Major forgiving me so soon?”

“No, the Major is still pissed at you for your behavior yesterday. Regardless, you are worth your pay here as lookout considering the possibility of all this being a pretty elaborate set up by rebels to pick off the faithful in blue, bit by bit.” Yugito sighed and glanced up at the dark sky. “You’ll be fine on your own for a few hours I suppose.”

“Thank you. I feel better already. Hey-” Sakura wavered in her saddle and had to drop her reigns to grip her saddle’s front lip to steady herself. 

She heard Yugito curse. “Damn it. You still have a fever. Take a nap here for all I care. I’ll be fine and I won’t let anything happen to the rest of them but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Promise to be vigilant!”

“Who do you think I am?” 

“Yugito-”

But the blonde had already dug in her heels and was heading away on a canter. 

There was something wrong rolling about in her gut and the longer Sakura stayed on the cliff apart from the rest of the group the worse it felt. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It was in her bones, a violent fission that urged her to move. She was burning with a fever and sometimes it made her sway, but she was still up and able to move. She needed to move. 

Sakura turned her horse around to chase after her friend, but the movement finally made her slip and she tumbled out of the saddle into the bush, catching the reins on the way down. Her horse snorted but stayed close as she rolled onto her side and gagged. She just barely scrambled upright in time before she threw up her breakfast. She heaved into the bushes and then fell back onto her side, sick and shivering all over. She was caught between her fever and her danger sense. 

She tried to stand but ended up vomiting again. When she was done some of the nausea was gone and standing didn’t make her dizzy. She climbed to her feet and took her rifle with her, not wanting to lose it if the horse ran off with all the things she had strapped to his saddle. 

At the edge of the cliff she could see the shrunken bodies of her companions heading into one of the marked off caves that the people had asked be inspected by soldiers. She was far away enough that they were small, but she could still see them all perfectly.

Overhead the clouds rolled along, thickening at their lowest points with the promise of rain. The darkest ones drifted in front of the sun and swelled in the sky, making shadows all over the land.  

“Turn back you idiots,” Sakura groaned out loud, knowing they were already too far away for her to reach, even with a horse. By the time she got down to them they would already be inside one of the caves. 

Sakura took up a watch, feeling sick and feverish all over. Over the next hour she threw up only one more time, and she wondered if it was because of nerves. She couldn’t see anyone or hear anything in spite of her better than average hearing. They were deep inside agonized stone and there was no knowing what had happened to them since. 

* * *

 

Sakura might have dozen, or maybe she stayed on the cusp of waking while entertaining a decent into older memories. She had been perched on a cliff overlooking entrances and exits to places both rugged and polished, far and near. She was no stranger to the high places, and watching over the cave made her remember some of those posts. 

During a time not too long ago, towards the end of the war when her rifle was nearly full, she had hidden herself in the branches of a mighty oak two days in advance. The wide open jaws of the skeletal snake posed just above her trigger, reminder her never to hesitate least she be the one suffering for it. The war was nearly lost. She couldn’t afford to be sympathetic.

In her memory Sakura sat and picked off enemy blue coats one by one, until their numbers were noticeably less. But after enough sacrifices had been made, a bullet found its way into her collarbone and she pitched backwards off the end of the tree branch. She plummeted the whole of the way down, landing horribly in a bank of snow that saved her life. 

Sakura lay in the snow, bleeding out but safely hidden from sight until the rest of the day’s sunlight was spent. It hurt, her wound burned and her stomach ached for food while her throat went dry for water, but she played the part of a corpse without fault. They would be watching for her, to make sure she was really dead, but they wouldn’t watch forever. She gambled a day at most. She just had to play dead for an entire day and then she could go.

Nearly a mile away, and behind enemy lines, the blue dressed soldiers never sent anyone out to retrieve her body. 

Their mistake.

They had celebrated her victory in their papers, only to lose nineteen more generals in a six day period-a personal best. 

_’The Snake Skinner knows how to shed her own skin and live again. She is an immortal monster_ ,’ the stories claimed. 

But back in the present, sick to her stomach and left all alone on a cliff ledge, Sakura didn’t feel like an immortal monster. She just felt nervous and upset for all the waiting she had to endure. The girl who played dead in the snow, unmoving for hours, was only a memory.

“Come on, Yugito. Bring them out unharmed,” she whispered into the wood of her rifle.

It was hours later when they all emerged unscratched and unharmed. They were dirty and cranky about their explorations. The first group to head back was made up of The Major, Karui, and Shikamaru. All three were conversing on the topic of their day’s of explorations. Sakura met them at the base, but didn’t follow them when they passed. Instead she was waiting for Yugito who came out second to last. Choji stood beside her and waited, watching as Omoi dragged his feet. 

“You’re all safe,” Sakura breathed. 

Yugito frowned at something on her face but it was Choji who moved first, laying his hand over her forehead. “Sakura, you’re burning up! How long have you had a fever?” 

“She woke up with it, move your hand, it’s already hot enough without the help,” Yugito interjected, moving up to push the hand off Sakura’s face. 

Yugito reached for her water skin and poured some onto a cloth she handed over. With her rifle on her shoulder Sakura accepted the cloth and set it on her forehead, relaxing instantly. 

“You didn’t even nap, did you?” Yugito asked, sounding disappointed.

“I was waiting for you all to come out. I didn’t know what had happened to any of you,” Sakura protested, turning the cloth over on her forehead. “I couldn’t sleep during such a time.”

“Straight to bed when we get back then. I think I know where we could get some medicine for a fever,” Choji said, looking worried between the two girls. 

Sakura rolled her eyes, rocking back on her heels. Behind Choji she saw Omoi coming out of the cave last, holding something in his hand that had attracted all of his attention. The rolling feeling came back to her gut and Sakura nearly gagged from it.

_Wrong, wrong, wrong._

She looked up again and saw the same thing with just one difference; behind the staff captain there was another figure. It wasn’t a knight in shining armor made with honor, but it was something that might have been once upon a time. It was a skeletal horror in tarnished armor with a mouth of void lined with teeth and red coals where there should have been eyes in his wide open sockets. It was tied to the stone in Omoi’s hand like a curse against trespassers. 

A wraith.   

She saw it draw something from it side, growing more and more solid the further it was pulled from the cave. The shadow passed over them and as Omoi stepped further into the weak light, out from the edge of the cave’s reach, a horrible realness materialized over the boy’s shoulder like something ripped from a child’s nightmare. 

Sakura shoved past Choji in a mad dark, making him stagger sideways behind her. She rolled her rifle off her shoulder too close to fire, but too close not to do something. Omoi looked up, surprised at her charge, but she just shoved him to the side in time to catch the spectral sword in the metal guard of her rifle. There was a spark and s heavy, solid clang. 

“Shit, what is that?!” she heard someone scream from behind her. 

They could see it too, which made sense. Out of the cave it was nearly solid. Anyone with or without magic would be able to make it out.  

The skies rolled and then split open, the rain started to come down on Sakura and her opponent in soft pulls of mist. The monster leaned far and gagged over her, smelling like rot and death before pulling back and raising its sword again. Sakura rolled and pulled her rifle up when it’s strike turned into a swing. Metal on metal made sparks and the rifle slipped in her hand

The wraith’s sword slipped over the metal guard and she watched it graze the metal all the way into her shoulder. It bit like frost burn and fire and she screamed from it. There was light where its sword bit into her flesh, making her sick. 

Her vision was a mess but she saw her rifle, saw her hand over the Leshy carving, far paler than it should have been. She felt the magic, the way it was drawn out through her wound into the wraith via his sword, feeding him like a leach. Bits of gray ash skin began to grow over his face, making him all the more horrible. She felt wrong all over but she also itched. 

Sakura screamed a new war cry and made the things inside her, the wrongness, the itch, the magic, the veins of power she didn’t understand, all flow in one direction. She made the things in her heart, the anger, the frustration, the hurt, the loss, the fear, the trauma too deep for words, all flow along with the magic, feeding it like oil fed a fire. She felt it fall out of her and something in her snapped, something wet and living. 

The wraith pulled away, leaving his sword in her shoulder, but reached for another one at his side. Sakura saw it raise it’s hand but before it could move, there was a roar not like thunder as wood under the earth rose up, dragging with it the bones and debris of an abandoned corner of forest.  Sakura watched with distant awareness as a Leshy, the Leshy from her rifle, her Leshy with a name only she knew, assembled himself out of the discards of a forest until it towered over the wraith.  

It roared with the voice of a bull before bringing one trunk sized fist down on the wraith. Like an egg the evil thing shattered and sick gray light scattered around them as a final cry scarred the air. Sakura fell backwards into the damp soil, feeling the cool of each under her face. People were screaming and both Choji and Yugito were running for her through the rain. There was still a sword in her that hadn’t shattered with the wraith, and a towering mammoth of Leshy only she could call for.

Sakura felt faint from the fever and her wound. Her eyes wanted to close, so she let them, but she stayed awake and aware a second longer, just long enough to hear her own voice calling out for Zetsu. She didn’t know who Zetsu was, but she knew he was hers and only hers. 

_“Be careful of your own magic. It’s a strange and wild new world. There’s no telling what might happen to you out there,_ ” her Baba had told her before she left home for the last time.  


	12. Chapter 12

“It came from her gun,” Karui hissed, grabbing for Omoi’s arm to hold him back. “Be careful.”

“It’s gone now,” he grumbled, pulling his arm free and staying put. The Major was just a step behind them, watching from just past Karui’s shoulder.

Choji barely paid them any mind as he watched Yugito crouch down beside Sakura and pull the girl’s head up onto her lap. She slapped Sakura’s face a few times but her eyes stayed closed.

“The shoulder wound,” Shikamaru said.

Choji looked where his friend pointed and noticed the rip in her clothing. There was barely any blood, which was unusual for such a primitive wound. Choji hadn’t seen someone impaled by a sword, but he had trained with them the same as any other noble-born son would be in their old country.

Yugito pulleddown a part of the shirt and hissed, revealing the cause for Sakura’s lack of bleeding. Silver tarnish clogged the wound and seeped under her skin, branching out as it filtered into her veins. The skin around the wound was inflamed like with an infection, and had turned taunt as it bloated slightly.

Yugito pulled out a small knife and tried to cut into the wound, scraping off the topmost level of silver that scabbed over the entry point. It was hard under her blade, but she cut away some of Sakura’s shoulder and more blood rushed out.

“What are you doing?” Choji panicked at the sight of so much red. “Do you know what you’re doing?You don’t even know if it _is_ poison.”

“It is,” Shikamaru corrected, not unkindly. “You can see how her body is reacting to it.”

Choji looked back to where Omoi stood with the others. “Do you know what it is? You’ve been studying materials and compounds, haven’t you?”

Omoi flustered with the attention. “It came from a ghost! A damed ghost knight came out of nowhere and tried to kill her with his ghost sword. I’ve never seen a ghost sword, I don’t know what they do!”

“It’s unreasonably to expect you to,” Karui added.

“If it reaches her heart….” Shikamaru let his words hang in the air between them all, unfinished.

Still leaning over Sakura, Yugito had only succeeded in cutting Sakura’s wound open larger for a little while before the silver tarnish swelled up and hardened at the new entry site.

Yugito wiped her blade clean on her thigh before sliding it away, out of view behind her back. She glanced up and nodded to Choji.“Help me carry her. "We need to get her to town and find a doctor or a herbalist who could-”

“ _No_.”

Choji expected opposition from maybe the Niebieski trio, but the voice had been Shikamaru’s. With the attention now directed his way Shikamaru stepped forward and picked up the rifle that lay in the dirt under a handful of fresh leaves. “We don’t know how dangerous she might be if she’s in the state she’s in right now. It would be wiser and safer for everyone involved if she was kept away from the more populated areas.”

“You were the one who said it would reach her heart,” Choji snapped, angrier than he’d ever been with his dearest friend. Shikamaru was a literal genius but sometimes his heart was too cold to strangers to see flesh for flesh and fact for fact.

“I’m not saying we don’t treat her or help her, but did you not see what came out of her rifle?” Shikamaru looked away from Choji, unable to meet his eyes. “That thing was stronger than anything we’ve seen so far. It destroyed the other creature like it was nothing. We wouldn’t be able to stop something like that.”

“Leave her rifle here then,” Choji argued. “But we have to take her back for treatment. I’m not going to leave her here because you’re scared.” 

“I don’t think-”

“I don’t care what you think, Shikamaru!” Choji interjected without looking back as he bent down to gather Sakura into his arms. She felt too small to be the same woman who thrashed Omoi in the mud thatnight. He could feel her bones through the fabric of her clothes as well as the heat from her skin. He recognized the fever right away, but couldn’t be sure if it was from the wound or something older.

He had only taken two steps before she jerked in his arms. Sakura’s eyes went wide and she twisted, reaching out and moving away from his chest in a blind grab. Her mouth twisted in a silent scream before she bit down hard, hard enough to draw blood from somewhere inside her mouth. Her eyes seemed to gain some new focus but she still struggled in an attempt to escape his hold.

“It’s okay, it’s me, I got you!” he tried to say, but Sakura still pulled away as much as she could. She was strong but Choji hadn’t met a man or women who could say they were stronger than him since he passed up his own dad a few years back.

Yugito called her name sharply and Sakura’s focus shifted there. Her struggling ceased aside from turning her head once to spit out the blood welling up in her mouth.

“My gun, where is it?”she asked, sounding out of breath or tired.

Choji turned around so she could see behind them where Shikamaru still stood with her rifle. Sakura reached for it, but Choji pulled her back up in his arms, keeping her pinned to his chest. She grunted in agitation. “Let me go, that’s mine.”

“No, you’re still hurt and burning up with fever. We’re taking you back to see a doctor.”

She wriggled a little but didn’t put in the same sort of effort to escape as before. Choji got the feeling she had realized the futility of it.

“But it’s mine, I don’t want it left behind. It’s important to me. Let me go, Choji.”

“I got it,” Yugito grumbled, stomping past Sakura and Choji to where Shikamaru stood. He looked ready to say something but she yanked the rifle out of his grasp and pushed him back when he reached for it again.

“It’s dangerous!” he protested.

“It’s mine!” Sakura corrected, reaching out with her left hand as far as it would go.

Shikamaru sputtered, looking from her to the Major and her subordinates, and then back at Yugito again. Samui made no move to defend his point, so Shikamaru stepped back and raised both palms in a show of surrender.

Choji carried her to a mount and set her up in the saddle before Yugito could ease into the space behind Sakura. The extra horse they tethered to the lead’s bridle and rode back into town as a unit.

 

Sakura dismounted on her own even though Yugito was always close by to catch her if she stumbled. When asked about the pain in her shoulder Sakura’s worrying answer was that she couldn’t feel anything at the site.

“Do you know what it did to you?” Shikamaru asked as they entered the inn and headed towards the stairs in the back that led up to their rooms.

Sakura paused on the stairs, pressing herself up flat against the wall so people could pass her, and pulled out her shirt far enough to look at the wound herself. “I have a good guess,” she answered. “But I’ve never seen anything like this before with my own two eyes. I don’t know anything more than you.”

Shikamaru’s stare narrowed in a familiar look of disbelief even as Sakura turned her back to head up the rest of the way. Choji moved to follow the girls and Omoi up but Shikamaru’s hand on his shoulder gave him pause. Choji watched Sakura climb until she was out of sight before turning towards his friend.

“She’s lying.”

Choji sputtered. “What? Why would you say something like that? She just got stabbed.”

“I don’t think it’s a big lie, but she knows what happened to her more than she’s letting on. What are you going to do if she’s contagious or if that would turns out to be something much worse?”

“Why are you asking me something like this? I don’t know. I’ll do what I can I guess.”

“Will you?” Shikamaru pressed. “Because you seemed a little too eager back there to make sure she was safe, regardless for how safe it was for the _rest_ of us. If you needed to, could you do what it necessary concerning her?”

Choji held his breath, a little too unsettled by his old friend’s words. “Why are you asking me this now?”

“Because I don’t like where this is going.”

Choji felt his mouth settle into a hard line that felt so out of place on his face. Nothing was won with a frown that couldn’t be conquered with a smile, he thought. That logic didn’t apply in the moment. “You don’t like things you can’t predict or understand. That doesn’t mean you have to hate them.”

Shikamaru let go of his friend’s shoulder, likely wanting to say something more but understanding that with Choji it would be wasted breath. Behind him Karui pushed past with Samui, but Omoi hung out at the base of the stairs, nodding to the innkeeper who was holding up a sample of wine. Shikamaru glanced once more between the stairs and the innkeeper before turning to join Omoi at the bar.

Choji joined the others at the top of the stairs and hung back when the rest of the women slipped into a single room. Karui was the last through and she turned back around to close the door, but paused when she saw him in the hall. She seemed surprised and then a bit exasperated when he shuffled from one foot to the other.

“Hang back with the rest of the men. We’ll call you if she blows up.”

There was a shuffle from inside and then Yugito was at the door with something in her hand. Karui stepped aside enough for her to move past. Choji saw the shape and then the designs of Sakura’s rifle as Yugito stepped over the threshold into the hall.

“She said you could hold onto this if you promised not to break it. The other one was making a fuss about it, right?”

Choji accepted the rifle like a ceremonial saber, with both hands palm sides up. It was the first time he had been this close to her rifle, but it wasn’t the first time he had studied it. All other times had been from afar, but now he was close enough to see each of the details she kept just out of sight.

Yugito didn’t say anything more, but turned on her heel and slipped back into the room where someone was pouring a rush of water into a basin. Choji looked up in time to catch a glimpse of Sakura, sitting with her back to the door and half her shirt pulled down. A spiderweb of dull silver spread out from the cauterized wound, spilling through her veins like wine on cobblestone. The door closed in his face, but not before he saw the leather toolkit at her feet, filled with a myriad of different weapons and herbs.

 _A witch’s kit_.

Choji stood in the hallway, likely looking as useless as he felt. He couldn’t hear much through the door, and he had no desire to be the sort of eavesdropper that pressed his ear up to the wood, but he thought he heard singing and then muffled cries of pain. Someone made the bed or the chair scrap across the floor, he heard wood scarring wood.

Choji moved back to the stairs and sat down on the first of the steps, crossing the rifle over his knees to stare down at her designs and let his thoughts run away with his worries.

She hadn’t claimed to be a witch, just that she could see with the bit of magic she had been born with. Choji didn’t know if he believed her, but he felt like he had to after what he saw.

Shikamaru wouldn’t believe in superstition any more than the Niebieski people who lit their homes with electricity and studied lighting with metal. Choji knew, even as Shikamaru denied it, his friend was more Niebieski than Brzoza by now.

His hand drifted over the wood, feeling the grooves and low points where a knife had carved out the likeness of a trio of horses. Sakura was Brzoza down to her bones, even if she wore the same jacket of ugly blue. She was the deep seed of culture that defined his heritage people. 

He looked down at her rifle and saw a decorated egg and a rabbit next to the horses at the end of the rifle. At the front most part a marrow maid swam over her own tail, black void eyes carved and burned for the color. On the other side he found the Catfish king, a little more crude in likeness and likely an earlier experiment with woodwork. The whole stock on either side was crowded with characters out of his childhood stories and then some. The skeletal snake with its jaws open wide enough to swallow the trigger was one he didn’t recognize. Down the butt of the gun, on the flat part that would rest up against her shoulder, there were words in a long dead language, carved like pictures with the symbols not even his grandmother knew anymore.

She was probably magic, whatever that meant for the rest of them. He believed she could see the world like a hawk, he believed she could speak things into existence like the Leshy carved into the stock of her gun alongside the Mad Wolf and other horrible monsters meant for the wicked and the wild in the world. He believed she could kill things like the fiend her village neighbors carved up before their eyes. He believed she could banish spirits formed out of malice and broken oaths. 

He turned the rifle over to look at her carving of the Leshy, larger than the others and closer to the end of the stock. It was rough, likely one of her first carvings, but care had gone into the crafting. The head was carved like the skull of a deer or elk and it’s shoulders were all manner of foliage carved with enough detail that Choji could see veins in the leaves.

In the stories Leshy were guardians of the forests and woods, made out of the land itself, often assembling their bodies out of the discarded matter left for them on the dirt floor. Some walked with the bodies of men that died in the woods, others didn’t resemble anything know by man. They were fierce things though, creatures mothers warned children about. Before entering an unknown wood the stories said you were supposed to call out to the Leshy and the green people, thanking them for their hospitality.

The Leshy that destroyed the ghost had looked far better than the one on her gun, but it was still of the same breed. It was hard to disagree with Shikamaru’s theory that the thing came from her, came _for_ her, like an answer to a call. Would it come out again is she was in danger, or in pain?

His thoughts cut off in a huff when he heard the commotion from the room. Sakura screamed through a gag, but it was still loud enough for him to hear through the door. There was struggling too, but by the time he stood and cross the hall to stop at her door, the noises had stopped and someone was dragging something wooden, a chair maybe, across the floor. 

“It’s fine now,” he heard someone say.

“How is that fine? It’s still there,” Yugito growled, loud and recognizable.

There was more movement and he heard Sakura make a sound of pain that ended up a groan of frustration. He had to take a step back and hold up her rifle again. He hated the sound of her scream. It made his bones vibrate in unease, like the oldest parts of him knew her pain was an unholy thing.

Ghost, wraith, whatever the distinction was, it had been nasty. In the cave he had been uneasy all the way through, but he hadn’t see that thing until they were outside in the sun and it was already tangling with their sniper. It had seemed so out of place, wielding a sword and wearing armor like it was a hundred years old. Swords and armor weren’t supposed to be dangerous. That was the whole reason their country fell under the heel of the gunpowder princedom. Stories like the one Sakura told of a mountain of sleeping knights enchanted until the hour of their need didn’t make sense anymore. The world had passed such stories by.

Choji felt off for a moment as he remembered the story Sakura told of the sleeping knights, as if she believed that’s what they would find. She had been wrong though.

Choji took the stairs two at a time and then crossed half the main room to one of the rafters to better see the details of the figures caught in it’s wood. They were so faded from time it was hard to see, but he moved from one to another until he found one he thought he could see the details in. They were knights, brave and noble like in the stories.

“What are you doing?” Omoi called from the bar where he and Shikamaru were drinking wine. Between them was a platter of mixed wood nuts.

“Omoi, you’ve been to this place before, haven’t you?” Choji asked, fheeling a thrill at the idea budding inside him. _His_ idea.

The boy at the bar eyed him shrewdly. “Eh, only a little, why?”

“Where are the oldest buildings? I need to know where the first places are,” Choji answered, ignoring the weight of Shikamaru’s stare on the rifle strapped over his shoulder.

“What? That’s easy even if I hadn’t know it already. The oldest buildings are the one in the center. The whole town is circular and walled so the first places built were at the heart. Just follow any road in deeper and you’ll get to the heritage slums. They’re keeping most of the refugees there.”

Choji was turning and heading out the door before Omoi had finished. Shikamaru called after him but Choji just waved over his shoulder, shouting an excuse that he’d be back before long.

There had been drizzle on and off throughout the day, shining the streets with a sheen in the places where arches and tarps couldn’t cover. It didn’t hinder his jog much more than the other townspeople in his way. All the homes were built along the main roads, leaning towards the center of town. It was easier to find than Choji anticipated, even if it took a good jog and twenty minutes to reach the edge of town square from where they were staying.

He believed Omoi about the center being the oldest when he saw the columns to the old church, renovated to serve as a refugee’s halfway house. In between the pillars short tarps were tied up and vagrants huddled under their handmade awnings. All the icons to the old Divas and their Ever Father the Cloud Walker, had been destroyed years and years ago when god religions fell out of favor, but there were plenty of symbols and holy images left in the stonework. Choji saw an old man with more burns on his face than hair on his head draped across the feet to a statue missing everything above its torso. There was no way to know what or who it had once been.

But a church wouldn’t have what he needed.

In the center of the town square there was a shape in the middle left were once a structure of some sort had stood. The base of whatever it had once been still remained and at each corner there was a horse head.

‘Close,’ he though in excitement, turning to the nearest building opposite the church and running for it. A manorial building of some sort, it was as old as the church, based in white stone and designed with stretching, ancient pillars not found anywhere else.

Choji jogged up the stairs to the top of the platform where no doors or walls barred his entry to the inner most courtyards. Several corners of the space were dotted with near ancient trees that looks like they were never meant to grow past their sapling years. The stone and earth around their roots were broken and cracked.Choji left the open spaces and ducked under the archways, following their path past locked shop fronts and legal offices.

He heard water and jogged to it, finding a fountain relief carved into the wall. It was late in the day with barely any light, but he saw the sickly figures carved from stone, pouring water from their jars. Unlike the knights in the inn, healthy and noble, these knights were anguished and sick.

He ran further, finding another, similar fountain with the same wraith like knights, and then another relic in the wall of an army of sickly men in suits of stone, marching into what looked like a mass grave.

 _‘The better off dead come for children who don’t finish their food,’_ the voice of his grandmother warned him and his cousins long, long ago. Choji never needed the warning, but other children were wasteful and needed to hear the story for themselves. 

 _‘It was back before the Niebieski had finished coming off their red wood boats, back when that princedom was ruled by a different house. Back then, the Niebieski were feared and hatedenough to inspire others to rally their own in hopes of driving the foreigners back into their boats across the sea. One of these cities was not far from here_.’

 _‘What’s the name of the city?_ ’ one of Choji’s cousins asked, interrupting the story.

Choji’s grandmother tutted fondly and explained that cities never had names in stories for a reason, but didn’t explain any further than that. Disbelief was a look on the child’s face, but the story rolled on, unheeded.

‘ _Now this city was a starved city. The harvest had been cruel for years and their lord took what they could not afford. Many men died because of their hunger, but the lord did not change his ways. That’s when the Niebieski came to conquer those lands wanting to bolster their infant claim to the blue princedom._

_The lord of the starving promised his men food and drink for their swords, and dressed them all up in armor to fight. And fight they did. Few are as fierce as the starved. But when they returned home from their campaign, fewer were left alive. Wives and children had starved alongside their grandparents. All their food had gone to feed the army, leaving nothing left for them._

_So, when the Niebieski rose up again and the starved citizens were requested to fight on their lord’s behalf, they instead marched themselves into mass graves, but not before taking the selfish lord with them. They were cursed for their regicide, for breaking their oaths, but you can’t blame a starving creature no matter how many oaths or swears they cast at another man’s feet. The starving know nothing of honor or logic. They know nothing of tomorrow. All they know is hunger.”_

Choji had never learned the name of the city, but something rang truer than true in his bones when he thought of the starving knights and then looked to the images of their march into mass graves. Underneath it there was writing in a long ago language Choji couldn’t even hope to understand.

Choji hoped he didn’t need to as he turned and raced back to the inn.

He had only taken a few steps before the shouting started.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prayer Circle for Choji guys
> 
> I'm wrapping things up over here with school/work and keeping my fingers crossed that soon things will die down enough for me to go to weekly or bi-weekly updates with this.  
> I think I have about 10 more chapters before this is finished, but some of those chapters might be combined because they're short? IDK. Editing is weird, guys.


	13. Chapter 13

_A girl grew in righteousness and purity, never knowing the evils of her own family. As a child her father had gambled her away to a devil. But she was a pure maid and when the devil came she drew for herself a ring of salt. The devil sent dogs to lick it away, so the maid drew a circle out of chalk to sit inside. The devil beat her father and told him to wash the chalk away so he might claim what was his. With nothing left to stop him the devil reached for the maid and caught her by the wrist, but she looked him in the eye and showed no fear. She knew he was not her better and he had no claim on what he couldn’t touch._

_She turned to silver at his touch and her spirit traveled free until it got caught in the web of a spider who spun for herself a new body out of silk so beautiful a king riding through the forest fell in love and vowed to make her his queen. He wooed her for a month and more until she went with him out of the forest into his kingdom, just as in love as the sun is with a flower._

_When his enemies conspired to kill her before the wedding she was still righteous and just. Their arrows turned her to silver once more and her spirit flew free until it became caught in the silk of a silkworm’s den. The silkworm spun for her a new body so lovely the emperor who saw her fell in love and offered her half his kingdom. She gave him two sons and when he died her sons found the king who loved her first and she finished her life’s story with him._

* * *

 

“So if you’re in love, let love make your sorrows into silver, into silver, into silk, into silk and song.”

Sakura sang the rest of the tarnished ichor away from her heart and neck, down her arm as far as she could stretch it. Her middle most finger had a single vein of silver just under the surface up to her first knuckle, but nothing else came close to stretching so far. Trying to sing it out of a new wound hadn’t worked, and after that, Sakura had run out of ideas. She didn’t know what she was doing, other than following through an idea pulled from a story that might not have even been true. 

Yugito cleaned off one of the knives from the leather pouch before replacing it and rolling the whole thing back up. Sakura could still smell the lavender over the iron tarnish of her blood, which she was thankful for. None of the herbs, not even the foxbane Tsunade her packed for her seemed to be useful for her particular circumstance, but at least something smelled good. 

Yugito looked up from where she tied the leather pouch shut, frowning at Sakura’s attempts to bend her elbow and then lift her arm. Bending the veins of silver made the action cumbersome. Sakura met her eyes and smiled weakly.

“It’s not as bad as it seems. It’ll dissipate naturally over time, I just have to manage it each morning to make sure it doesn’t reach my heart or my brain.”

“That’s what you told the other two, but was that really it?”Yugito wiped her hands on the backs of thighs, leaving streaks of water stains in the fabric. 

“It’s as much as I know right now. I’ve never anticipated having to deal with a wraith when I took my baba’s medicinal studies…not that she even covered what you’re supposed to do when stabbed by a ghost blade, mind you.”

Yugito hummed thoughtfully. “You sounded like you knew what you were doing.”

Sakura glared down at a new cut just above her elbow, running horizontal over a silver line. Blood had welled under her knife, but more iron colored ichor swelled to seal up the cut before she could extract anything. If there was a way to draw it out, she didn’t know it. She didn’t know anything. It was luck how she was able to sing the poison in any direction at all. She had never done it before, never seen it done before, and had only ever heard of maidens pure and brave being able to heal with their songs, but the practice wasn’t much different from singing a wild horse into a calm while running nimble fingers backwards over their pulsing veins. 

She shouldn’t have been able to do it, if she thought too long about it. It was the fate ending sort of magic. Such magics were for the pure maidens, the kind and the brave, the innocents who were abused by their elders and neighbors. Sakura had killed people. She was far past worthy of such magics. She didn’t want to think about what it meant too deeply. All she had to do was hope it didn’t happen again because she wasn’t Baba, or Shizune, she was just another rifle waiting to draw blood from the throat. 

“Do you have an idea for how the Major can clean out the cave?”

Sakura looked up, hearing the question and blinking. It took a beat longer before the words registered. “Clean out? How does she think that’s going to happen? We walk in and ask the Pale Neighbors to relocate?”

“I don’t think she would ask anyone else.” Yugito’s eyes cut to the corner of the room where shadows seemed darker. “You’re the only one who even recognized the ghost for what it was and knew how to defeat it.” 

“But I didn’t,” Sakura quietly admitted. “I don’t know what I did or how that happened. It wasn’t by any design of mine that events ended the way they did.” 

“What? So you just got lucky?”

Sakura bit back the growl and evened out her voice in her throat before opening her mouth to answer. “This isn’t lucky.” She waved her arm for emphasis. 

“You’re alive, that’s plenty lucky for the alternative. And if you really didn’t know how you did what you did, all the more luck can be said to be yours.”

Sakura tugged what she could of the rest of her ruined shirt back up. The bloody ends flapped open until she slipped into the navy blazer. She still felt warm from a diminishing fever, but the flush didn’t stand out as badly as it had earlier. If no one knew, they likely wouldn’t guess she even had a fever. 

Since she had been young enough to remember she had always been lucky when it came to sickness. What crippled lesser men and women fell away in the morning for her. Shizune was the poor one who actually got sick and needed to be looked after. 

_Sakura’s nose was running but she stood on her own two feet, watching from the hall. Tsunade leaned over Shizune in bed, wiping away the cold sweat and then spoon feeding the pale child._

Climbing up to her feet Sakura paused at the door, hearing something close to a commotion down below. She recognized Choji’s voice and the other was one she had never heard before. Anything else was too soft or muffled to make out. When she glanced over Yugito was already looking her way with the same intention set in her eyes. Sakura got the door but had to turn awkwardly to pull it back with her oppositearm because the other one still hung, mostly limp, at her side. 

The two descended the stairs side by side, coming down into the open dining room where a man in a rain resistant half cowl was pointing angrily at the Major. Samui stood in front of Choji and Karui, looking like she had been cut from marble for how she held herself. Behind her at the bar Omoi and Shikamaru sat, tense enough to have been listening and waiting for a reason to move. It was only one man, but he was angry and sometimes it only took one man to make a difference. 

“What’s this about?” Yugito asked, leaning into Shikamaru’s space.

“Not what you think. Choji got caught somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. They’re wanting us to stay out of a Chamber of Commerce, but the Major wants to investigate it now, seeing how they’re so particular about a mall.” Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “It’s a den of tax evasion and they don’t want it blown open is my guess.”

Shikamaru cut his eyes past Yugito to where Sakura stood and looked her over. Sakura didn’t flinch at what she recognized, but met Shikamaru’s stare head on, steeling her spine to brace against the judgement. Shikamaru saw her hard eyes meeting his and broke his staring off, turning back around to watch Choji. 

“What was Choji doing there?” Sakura asked, stepping up to the small group. 

Shikamaru’s eyes stayed fixed on Choji, but Omoi had been watching her since she stepped down, his gaze showing a particular interest in the outline of her wounded arm. Neither boy looked ready to ask her about it, but each drew some sort of conclusion seeing her down and on her feet. 

“He wasn’t there to sniff out tax evaders. Something about looking for the history of the cave where you were attacked,” Shikamaru answered. “He seemed excited about something he found. He’ll want to share it with you.” 

“It wasn’t that exciting,” Omoi huffed, sounding exasperated the same way parents sounded when their children still believed in things they were too old for. He sounded _Brzoza_.

Shikamaru muttered to himself about how it wasn’t his place to decide such things while turning back around to the drink that smelled strongly of fermented wheat and bog harvest cranberries. 

Sakura turned apart from the group and started to approach where Choji stood, seeing the local closer up. Tall, barrel chested, with a thick beard nearly fire red in a shade that didn’t match the rest of his head hair. At least that was what she could tell based off of what she could see under the cowl he still wore. The only one taller than him in the room was Choji, which was hard to see at first since Choji drew his posture down with hunched shoulders and a bowed head. The raging local was all fire and confidence as he pressed into Samui’s personal space. 

There were five other patrons at tables watching the exchange in addition to their group and the inn keep behind the bar. It wasn’t the busiest hour, but with dusk dragging down the sky outside, more would be stumbling in from the end of their work day. 

From the looks of things, neither side looked ready to back down, which was silly because there wasn’t a single person in the entire town who had the right to stand up to the Major as long as she wore her colors. It was only the desire to preserve civility and good relations with the headship of a town that harbored so many refugees that kept Samui from throwing him out and being done with him. She had no such reason to be civil with Sakura, but maybe if she had, Sakura might still be home with Shizune and Tsunade.

“You want disease tracking back to you that badly? When you send a fool out blind that’s where they end up?” the man blustered.

Samui kept her face and tone neutral as she replied. “My subordinate found no such colony of disease and that is a non issue in this discussion. His movements were not in violation.”

“They weren’t approved either. Is that what we’ve come to now? A prince who comes into out beds at night because he has the right to it?”

Karui drew her lip back in a dismissive sound, drawing more offense from the accusation than anyone else in the room. Generations ago it had been an angle of propaganda to paint the new, dark skinned rulers who dominated the land and ruled with practiced authority, as overlords who demanded maidens and wives the way the old kings did, from the stories before the Hostage King abolished all that. It was an almost forgotten slur, but Karui seemed too keen to forget or forgive it.

Samui took a step into the man’s space, shorter than him by almost a head, but no less diminished with all her regal posturing. He didn’t retreat, but he bent his head back, away from her, and the aggression in his frame lessened.“I’ll thank you to be more mindful of your words sir. You have no justification for a quarrel but should you persist and pursue this corse of rhetoric, you will find one. Do you require an escort home or can you manage on your own?”

“I’m not done here.”

Samui’s eyes flashed and Sakura thought she caught a gleam of teeth as she spoke. “ _I_ am done with you.” 

The man cast his eyes off to the side, to the patrons watching, to the navy blazers of all Samui’s companions, and then to the inn keep who was wiping down the bar and looking uninterested. It seemed to persuade him to take a step back. Then his eyes landed on Sakura, and she felt the moment recognization set in.

He didn’t recognize her, she had never seen him before in her life, but he recognized the silver in her veins because when he looked at her it burned all up and down her arm, hot enough to make her stop her breath in her throat. The thing unwelcome in her blood, clogging up her veins, was the same thing that colored his eyes. 

He turned and bolted. 

“Get out while your legs still work!” he spat at the door before slamming it behind him. Through the near window she could see him tear out into a dead run, deeper into the central heart of town. 

“Piece of filth,” Karui hissed, clicking her tongue behind her teeth to make a sound of displeasure. 

“Worse,” Sakura breathed, grabbing her wounded arm and squeezing it tight enough until the burning stopped. “He’s linked to those wraiths we were so worried about before.”

The air in the room turned still. 

“How would you know that?” the major asked, facing Sakura.

Sakura bent her arm and pulled back the sleeve enough to see where the veins of silver reached down her hand. The outermost edges were red and burning like with inflammation. While they watched, the agitation lessened and then returned to normal, taking the heat and pain with it. 

“How convenient,” Samui muttered, likely sarcastic. 

“Did he do something to make it like that?” Karui asked, stepping closer.

Yugito touched Sakura’s shoulder and nodded to the nearest table with patrons. When Sakura looked up she saw them all duck their heads back into their meals and cups, pretending not to listen in. 

“I have a table,” Samui said. She pointed to a table in the back further removed from the rest. She gestured to the table and then back over her shoulder she ordered full dishes for all of them minus Shikamaru and Omoi who had already eaten at the bar. 

Choji took his seat last, sitting next to Sakura and Karui while the Major took the head of the table for herself. Before he was fully in his seat he touched the edge of her elbow and asked in a whisper if she was feeling better.

“Much,” Sakura whispered back.

“We should start with you,” Samui interrupted.

Sakura looked up, expect to meet the Major’s stare but instead, Samui was looking at Choji with a note of displeasure. 

“What were you doing tripping in places that only bring up more headaches?” Samui asked. 

“That wasn’t my intention,” Choji muttered before lifting his head a fraction. “I was looking into the source of the wraith problem. I thought there might be some local legends or myths that help explain what we saw and I think I found something when I was caught and chased back here.” 

The innkeeper’s son, barely old enough for the freckles on his face, came over with ale for each of them, pausing the conversation until he was back out of sight behind the counter across the room. 

“You found a black market den, more than likely,” the Major replied.

“No, the wraiths were here before, or I know the reason they were here before. I just don’t know why or how they went away, but the oldest section of the town has reliefs that depict the history.” 

“That’s nothing more than a story,” Karui began, sounding less hostile than she would have two days ago when the same words came out of her mouth about Sakura’s own tales. 

“Story or not, they’re able to do this, so it doesn’t matter how silly it sounds, it’s something we should look into,” Sakura interjected while holding up her injury and pulling down her sleeve to show off the line of silver. 

“There are others who will suffer worse and since we’ve showed up in the city, anything done or not done will fall on our heads as our responsibility.” Samui shared a meaningful look with Karui. “As incredulous as it may seem, the answers are sometimes buried in the least likely places. Listen.”

Karui nodded once and then grabbed her drink, readying herself to listen to the rest. 

“What did you find?” Sakura asked, prompting Choji to fall back into his explanation. 

He told them of the reliefs, of the story his family knew, of the curse that likely explained the presence of such creatures, and of how hotly he had been chased. “I could have sworn it was more than one guy, but when I made it back here, he was the only one that followed me in.” 

“I’d like to think tax evasion and black market dealing is the worst of our troubles with him and his lot, but he made this stuff burn in me,” Sakura said, looking over the silver that ran up to her knuckle. “And it’s the same stuff that gave his eyes that color.”

“Plenty of people have silver eyes,” Yugito said.

Sakura shook her head in disagreement. “No, not like _that_. This substance, it’s different from silver or blood, it’s made up of different things and I can tell that if I look long enough. His eyes were the same.”

Yugito paused a moment before pressing with a new question. “He’s like you?” 

“No, not like me, but maybe…not unlike me. Not all magic feels or works the same. Water from the river isn’t the same as water from the ocean, but it’s still water.” 

“Speaking of that,” Samui interrupted, pushing aside the food that had come during Choji’s retelling. She set her elbows on the edge of the table and stapled her fingers in front of her mouth. No one would be able to read her lips like that. “This afternoon you showed us something I’d really like to understand better. What was that thing you controlled?” 

“I didn’t control anything, but it-”Sakura struggled with the words when she saw Karui’s eyes and then the Major’s. “I don’t know enough to give you an answer you’d believe.”

“Start with what that thing is called,” Samui said.

“It’s a Leshy.” 

Sakura felt wrong explaining something she had always known and taken for granted. Even the villagers who didn’t believe or the soldiers who didn’t know any of the old stories at least knew of the Leshy. There were still forests named after them further west. 

Samui nodded once, seemingly unsatisfied. “Is it evil?”

“It’s just. Humans fall into acts of evil and good, but the Leshy are just protectors and defenders of their own in the woods. They’re not malicious... typically.”

Sakura told them a half truth. There were stories of Leshylike the one from Evilwater who was too close to a human settlement that didn’t respect their woods. Such disrespect rotted the Leshy’s opinion of human and made him a little more prone to pass judgment. Also, many Leshy were said to be mischievous in the stories Sakura heard growing up. Sometimes it was dangerous for the human who didn’t know any better, but it wasn’t a Leshy’s nature to hurt for the sake of hurting.

“This Leshy…it’s something you can control?” The Major asked.

“Not that I know of.I didn’t know that was going to happen any more than you. It’s never happened in any of the stories I’ve heard before and I didn’t think it could.” Sakura stared down at her hands just under the table. “I don’t even know where he went.”

“That’s concerning, but not nearly as concerning as what an anti establishment ghost force controlled by mad men could mean for the princedom.”

“Major?” Choji asked.

“We’ll wait until midnight. Choji, you’ll lead us back.” Samui pulled back from the table and dropped her hands to cross her arms. “Any questions can be saved for later. Eat.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have seen the first part-the fairytale- on my tumblr as a standalone post. I failed to mention what it was from because I am a mess and forget these things. I have a file somewhere with a dozen different off the cuff made up fairytales like that. (Can I always find this stupid file in the disorganized mess that is my computer? Ha!) 
> 
> I'm excited. The next chapter has one of my favorite scenes/quotes, and after that we get into some of the darker themes. I love writing this story guys, it's just so...much? I love writing about the world, the myths, the histories, and making something from the ground up.   
> Choji's findings are an interesting can of worms that sets so may things off. 
> 
> I'm going to try and update weekly until this is finished (with a few exceptions cause life does that busy thing). It's mostly finished. Some parts still need work, but I'm nearly there and want to devote the whole of my attention to it for a brief bit of time. :) I'm so thankful for your support and words of encouragement. It means a lot.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yugito didn’t think she would admit it out loud, but an unfaltering corner of her heart already knew the uncomfortable truth. If fate was a tapestry, Sakura was a gash through thread work and Yugito was a tangle.
> 
> “Will you be the one that fixes me?” Yugito whispered to the space between them.

There were only enough hours for a nap and not enough for the deep sort of sleeping that usually dragged in dreams, but that didn’t stop the skeletal snake from looming over her prostrate form as the midnight hour drew closer still. What was left of the moon’s light lit the room in soft shades of silver, from the bed frame to the curve of Sakura’s jaw.The snake’s pale bones seemed to glow from it as they expanded and contracted with phantom breathing. 

Yugito held her breath for a moment when the snake seemed to still in a posture that betrayed its striking, but just like all the other times, the snake unfroze and eased back into that slow lulling twist in the air above them both. She was almost tempted to move her hand up and run her fingers through its bones to see if they were solid, or pure dream like she suspected. Her body betrayed her and stayed frozen stiff for the rest of the hour.

In the bed across the small room, Sakura slept on her side, her injured arm propped up with both bedrolls under it to keep it elevated through the night. The tail of the great snake emerged from the first knuckle on her injured arm, where the silver vein ended. The wraith’s curse had provoked something already hexed into Sakura’s body.

The snake was just like the one she had carved into both sides of her rifle above the trigger. Yugito remembered the reason for the placement and design, since it was the only design on her gun that didn’t come from a preexisting story.

_“The next time I hesitate, it will bite me. That way I might learn my lesson.”_

_“And what lesson is that?” Yugito had asked._

_“Don’t hesitate.”_

Yugito hadn’t asked beyond that for an answer that explained even more. Sakura had carved the snake after she almost-but-didn’t kill Yugito while they were enemies. The snake went into the wood a little later…the same snake that undulated in the moonlight above them. Sakura said the snake was a lesson to never hesitate, but Yugito wondered all on her own; was the snake meant for her? Did Sakura regret her decision?

The snake went stiff, making Yugito catch her breath once more as the curved fangs stretched and loomed directly overhead. But instead of striking or easing back into the familiar rhythms, the head shook and cracked. Along the length of the skeleton, the bones flared like the puffed up feathers of winter birds, then shattered in quick succession from the head down to the tip of the tail. The pieces of bone flutter down like molted feathers, melting back into dream matter.

Sakura groaned and shifted in her sleep. She moved her legs under the thin covers before her heavy lashes fluttered with waking. Yugito swallowed and turned over onto her side to watch the girl with too much magic in her wake under a witch’s moon.

Yugito didn’t think she would admit it out loud, but an unfaltering corner of her heart already knew the uncomfortable truth. If fate was a tapestry, Sakura was a gash through thread work and Yugito was a tangle.

“Will you be the one that fixes me?” Yugito whispered to the space between them.

Sakura’s lips parted partially and then she breathed easy. With the newfound comfort she then turned her face up, eyes still closed, and settled into easier breathing.

A moment later the tail of her snake started to build bone upon bone. The body was just as large as last time, taking up most of the free space in the room above their beds. It curved and twisted over Sakura until the skull came together, jaws open and fangs curved. The skull turned towards Yugito and she was frozen in her bed again unable to twitch more than her finger.

“ _There is no fixing,”_ it rumbled, _“only the remaking of what broken pieces there are left behind_.”

Yugito felt the voice in her blood in a way that came without any explanation. Regardless she somehow knew that the voice she was hearing was a voice meant for her and her alone. No one would have been able to hear its words if they were in the room with her.

The skull twisted sideways, opening its jaws even wider. Flowers began to bloom between its ribs. “ _What is left of you for her to fix_?”

Yugito felt her heart stop and feared it would never start again when there was a muffled pounding on the door. The snake shattered and Sakura’s eyes opened with a hasty waking. She kicked off the covers and reached for the edge of the bed to help pull herself up. Her eyes fluttered, still heavy with sleep, but when they opened, they found Yugito first.

“Are you awake yet?” she whispered.

It was a heartbeat more before Yugito found her voice. “If I wasn’t I would still be with that voice of yours. If you need to wake someone up don’t whisper.”

Yugito pulled herself up from the bed and glanced about the room, spotting the carved rifle leaning up against the end of Sakura’s bed. The snake was still there. No difference.

“If you were still sleeping I wouldn’t bother with words, I’d just pour cold water over your head,” Sakura grumbled as she stepped into her boots and pulled them up to lace tight. When she was done she glanced up and frowned at Yugito’s inactivity. “Are you really awake?”

“I don’t know. Will you use your cold water to check?”

Sakura frowned and approached where Yugito still sat on the edge of her bed. She flicked the blonde’s nose and Yugito growled in annoyance, batting the other girl’s hand away.

“Stop that. I’m not a child.”

“You’re acting like one. Put on your shoes and jacket. The sooner we leave the sooner we can come back for a real rest. Then I’ll let you sleep as long as you want.”

“I guess there’s no point in being polite and asking how you slept since you seem fine.” Yugito moved to grab her own boots and step into them. She straightened once they were finished and caught Sakura’s elbow just as she finished pulling on her blazer. When Sakura turned Yugito place a hand flat on the other girl’s face, feeling her forehead and then her face.

Sakura huffed, clearly annoyed. “The fever is gone, I told you it would be. They never last very long with me.”

Yugito remembered a very different fever and the tents filled with unattended dead. “You’re very fortunate.”

Sakura rolled her eyes and crossed the short distance to the door. “Of course I am. Are you coming, my mother hen?” Her voice tilted with a teasing accent that was supposed to be funny.

“Don’t call me _that_.”

Yugito reached the doorway just as Sakura was stepping over the threshold. With a final grunt of disapproval she latched the door behind them, listening for the locks to fall into place before turning to follow her downstairs where everyone else waited.

 

As Yugito followed Sakura out, the way the darkness swallowed her up made Yugito’s heart catch. And like fire on flint, her mind was alight with a memory from years long past.

They called their girls shadow cats, because that’s all they needed to be. Their job was simple and impossible and the end for more than nine tenths of them.

Collect the fallen.

Simple.

Collect them with all their boots and guns and ammunition without getting hit in the active fire field.

Impossible.

The bodies they brought back without their rifles didn’t count even if the person could be saved. What good did a pair of hands do if they didn’t have a gun to hold? Guns were more precious than lives in a war where one side still lit their camps with wood flame instead of oil. The white country had plenty of men but it was Niebieski that had the guns and the factories. Bodies weren’t worth anything without those guns. Not even the living breathing bodies of a dozen different girls with eyes of old, old blue.

Yugito had seen more girls walk into the darkness only to never walk again than she cared to admit. In the midst of their collective sorrow the cats would joke to one another.

_‘How did you make it out today?’_

_‘Easy, I just walked in between the bullets.’_

Siting shoulder to shoulder and side by side it was like looking at an infinite mirror. All the good Niebieski girls with corn yellow hair and old blue eyes dressed down in dark blue uniforms. They were all from the old families with heritages that predate their country's collapse at the hands of people from red boats across the sea.

If things had been different and the houses hadn’t fallen to their own infighting and needing saving, Yugito would have been a woman of lineage, a lord’s daughter perhaps. But that was a wish of a dream that stayed safe and untouched in her head, far from her lips. Yugito knew what she was. She was a shadow cat. She was an army girl. She was a factory issued tool and nothing more.

But even a tool can become a treasure after enough time.

When all her sisters and cousins and friends fell away, Yugito somehow managed to survive. She learned what she could about how to make herself a ghost in boots and stole what luck she could grab with her own two hands.

She stood out before long, even if she didn’t always make it back with her quarry. More than once the girls and boys in blue bled out or died from their wounds before she could get them to the medics. It always haunted her to hear their voices and then nothing. Some died in the middle of their sentences and she had to sleep hearing their unfinished stories or pleas in her head for the rest of the war.

After the first two years they gave her a medal for her 'brilliant survival and retrieval of over two hundred different soldiers in boots with their guns'. No one awarded her anything else for the countless other corpses she pulled back only to have them die in her hands halfway across battlefields.

_‘Thank you for my son.’_

_‘Now I know what became of my daughter.’_

_'My poor sweet child.'_

_'She went too soon!'_

_'I won't worry anymore, then.'_

Yugito was a terrible shot and too skittish to be of much use on the front lines killing her enemies, but she was worth something as a shadow cat.

Until....

 

The man she had been dragging died in the middle of his speaking, a fresh wound turning his face red. Yugito dropped his arms and whirled, but couldn’t see anything to take cover behind. Over her shoulder she saw the glint of a rifle’s angry barrel.

Caught

 _‘I don't want to die here like the others. Who else will remember them if I’m gone?’_ she screamed inside her mind.

Yugito saw with impossible clarity the face of her killer. And maybe it was the adrenaline or the bone numbing fear that came with her promised death that made her see with uncanny clarity something so far away, but she saw that face.

It was a girl. Her face was soft enough for swan feathers and cotton pillows, too soft to be behind the barrel of a gun. Her hair was pulled back under a hood of white wolf fur that was almost the same pale shade as her painted skin. Staring down from the ledge in the snow her eyes shone like green fire and stirred something just as warm deep inside Yugito’s chest.

If she was going to die, it wouldn’t be too terrible to be killed by an angel at least.

The rifle cracked and Yugito felt it as the bullet cut through the air. Behind her the man in uniform choked, fingers going to his throat. Yugito saw him stumble and fall dead a mere arm’s length from where she stood.

A moment more and nothing else broke the silence. A thin trail of blood snaked down her face from where the bullet grazed her cheek.

Yugito didn’t dare look away from the angel on the ledge, even as her gun roared four, five, six, and then seven more times. Each shot felled a different man or woman in blue. Each shot nailed them in the head or throat. One died grabbing at his face where the bullet has shot him through the eye.

Then the girl crawled back from her ledge with her gun and Yugito was alone without a body to drag back home.

 

“Yugito?”

She blinked and looked up. Sakura was frowning over her shoulder but the teasing glint to her eyes was gone. She looked concerned.

“I was just thinking to myself,” Yugito coughed. “Sorry, I didn’t hear what you just said.”

“Thinking? What about?”

“Nothing important.”

Sakura made a dismissive sound. “You almost never space out. It must have been _something_ important.”

“I space out all the time, don’t think I’m perfect.”

“I never see you do it.”

“I just don’t do it around you,” Yugito grumbled, catching up to Sakura on the stairs. “Why would I when I’m with you? You’re more than enough trouble to keep my brain focused.”

“All you do is insult me.”

“It’s not really an insult if it’s true.”

“There are plenty of other true things you could say about me instead. I’m an excellent singer, I can sew decently, I’m strong enough to carry three different children at once…” Sakura waved her hand in front of Yugito, encouraging the girl to pick up where she left off.

Yugito’s tone went flat for her reply. “You have the most fascinating talent for finding danger and stirring up trouble of anyone I know.” 

“That didn’t sound like a compliment. I don’t think you know how to even pay someone a compliment if you can’t even say something nice about _me_ after all this time.”

“You’re a walking accident waiting to happen.”

“Well,” Sakura scoffed, “at least I know how to pay someone a compliment when they need one.”

It was Yugito’s turn to scoff.

Sakura stopped near the base of the stairs, but still in the shadows. Yugito stopped one step further down and turned back to face Sakura.

“You make me feel safe. Even in the mouth of my enemy, I know I’ll be alright if you’re by my side. Thank you for staying next to me. Even after this.” Sakura touched her arm where the silver stained under her skin and winced.

Yugito’s heart felt like breaking.

“You don’t have to thank someone for doing something as basic as that,” Yugito said.

“It’s a compliment and it’s true.” Sakura flexed her fingers and looked down at her injured arm. “And I meant it, so now you’ve heard a compliment you should know how to do one yourself.”

Yugito looked Sakura over and saw the face of an angel with eyes like green fire and a face as soft as swan feathers. She saw a girl left alone with domestic chickens outside a house where the place she had dreamed of was taken by another. She saw a girl soaked and muddy sparing one more kindness for her enemy.She saw a sick girl, first suffering from summer fevers and then from silver poisoning. She saw a girl she would never be able to leave.

“I guess your uniform isn’t too terribly wrinkled,” Yugito admitted before turning back around and walking down off the stairs.

Sakura huffed loudly from behind but followed the other girl out into the dead dark common space and then into the night where the rest of their team waited.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mini chapter! I almost smooshed this in with Choji's POV but didn't because it gets real intense with what Choji and the troop uncover next (and that chapter is nearly 5K on its own). Also, I'm just really proud of Yugito's chapter and hope it's received well. Look, everyone is going to be in love with Sakura by some point even if they never admit it and Yugito is no exception. She's got a bit more of a bid for Sakura's heart at this point considering what the two of them went through together and how their fates intermingled from that point on. I love them so much and I hope you all do too! I'm just...real proud of this one guys. :))))


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings include mentions of cannibalism, dead infants, mass graves in this chapter.

The moon was a fickle thing in the land where rain was as prevalent as wind in the valley. For hours, the streets had been highlighted in silver only to go dark and formless once a swollen cloud passed overhead.

Choji looked back and saw that out of their whole group it was Yugito who seemed the best at moving through the dark, though Sakura was a close second _in her current state_. Yugito stalked through the street’s shadows with all the confidence of a cat. It almost unnerved Choji when he watched her move past the others and ahead of the group. There was something about her figure that hadn’t been there before when sunlight touched her skin, _something lethal._

Or maybe it was because she was upset about something. When she had come down earlier her answers had all be curt and quick, which was not unusual for Yugito, but it was more than usual. He didn’t know her well enough to know what would set her off or irritate her any better than Karui or Sakura, or Omoi for that matter, but he hoped it wasn’t anything too terrible.

“How much farther?” Omoi asked, stopping just at Choji’s elbow with Shikamaru trailing further back in the darker shadows. Across the street Yugito and Samui pressed themselves into dark alcoves and doorways while Karui and Sakura crouched low in the corner of the street, waiting and watching. Midnight had come and gone but the shadows only continued to grow.

“Not much more along this way. You can see the columns to the old temple from here.” Choji leaned over so the boys could see where he was pointed to over his shoulder. In the darkness the old temple still somehow kept it’s white color, almost shining in a dark world. The stone it had been built with reflected in bits and scraps what little moonlight it could.

“Next cloud then?” Shikamaru asked, glancing up at the sky that was less stars and more cloud. It wouldn’t take them long to get that cover.

“Is it even really necessary?” Omoi grumbled. He adjusted his belt and bent forward, ready to run if he had to.

“It’s safe to not be sorry. Your Major was the one who said we needed stealth,” Shikamaru pointed out. He seemed less ready as he stared up at the sky, watching the clouds pass.

Omoi grumbled but signaled to Karui from across the street with a couple of hand signs. She nodded and then whispered to the others around her who seemed just as ready as the boys.

A few seconds later their chance came and they were whispers in the street, avoiding old puddles and ducking under the canopies meant to keep off rain. The main square was wide and open, but they all hugged the edges, trailing the boundaries until the building Choji had described came into sight. Yugito was the first to reach it, sprinting the rest of the distance so close to the ground Choji could barely tell how she managed to pick her knees up.

He was able to duck under the first archway not long after and the whole of the group moved deeper in to where the firstrelief Choji had gotten in trouble for viewing stood out of the wall. Sakura pushed past Yugito to the front, kneeling down to get a better view of the fountain.

“Freaky,” Karui whispered, lip curling as she almost looked away. “Why would someone put something so gruesome into stone?”

“So it doesn’t happen again,” Samui answered, voice soft in a way it only ever was for Karui and Omoi.

“You said there were others?” Sakura interrupted. “Where was the one with the writing on it?”

Choji turned and waved her on and the rest of the group followed. There was one more fountain before he found the relief with all the starved knights dragging their heavy bodies into a mass grave. As soon as Sakura saw it she sank to her knees and traced the harsh inscriptions along the edges, frowning at the symbols.

“Can you read it?” Choji asked, squatting down beside her. He still hulked in his space, but Sakura didn’t seem to mind or even notice his size or how that made him press into her personal bubble.

“I can’t read it well. It’s very old, and I’m not _supposed_ to know how to read anything other than Common.” Sakura glanced past her shoulder at where Samui watched on, looking unimpressed. “But I’m sure I could figure some things out. These characters look a little like something I might have seen before.”

“You’re either useful for this task or you’re not. Don’t hymn and haw. Can you read it?” The Major asked, tone sharp and stern enough to reflect her rank.

Sakura slicked her tongue over her teeth and looked back at the letters. “I started to learn, but only an apprentice really gets the full education. I’ll do what I can.” Her fingers traced over the words, going back to the beginning and starting anew.

Satisfied, the Major turned away from Sakura and the art to touch Choji’s elbow and gestured for him to stand. “Choji, where did that man come from, and were there others? Show me.”

Karui and Omoi naturally fell into a flank behind their Major while Choji pointed them across the open courtyard with trees too old for their plots. He hung back while the three-man unit moved with practiced grace. In their absence, Shikamaru turned back around to crouch beside Sakura and watch her read the writing.

“How much of it can you really read?” he asked after another second of silent observation.

“All of it, that’s not the problem. It’s a riddle, one I’m at a loss for understanding. I can translate, roughly, what the sentence means, but don’t know how to make sense of it. It sounds something like, ‘if you are looking for what the maker doesn’t want and the buyer doesn’t need, seek it with the-‘ and this is where it gets messy, ‘the hill runner, or maybe the one who runs through hills, and the river leaper or who one leaps over rivers.’”

“I’ve heard that one before.”

Yugito and Sakura both turn to look at Shikamaru as one. “You have?” Sakura echoed.“When, and where?”

Shikamaru waved his hand in front of his face before pointing to the relief. “It’s a pair of popular riddles from long ago, cut and sewn together. The thing that the maker doesn’t want and the buyer doesn’t need is a coffin or tomb, and the hill runner and river leaper is a road. If you want to find the grave of these guys, you need to follow the road or seek it on the road.”

“That’s too vague, there could be any number of roads. Which one is it talking about?” Yugito asked.

“I’m willing to bet it’s the one in the relief, since it’s carved so well,” Shikamaru explained around a yawn.

He pushed past Sakura a bit and then pressed his hand against the section of the stone relief where the road was carved. It wasn’t a large piece, but after the first nudge it started to give and sink back, deeper into the wall.In response a door made of seamless stone began to swing inward the further Shikamaru pressed the road until there was a click and neither moved.

“That was brilliant,” Choji whispered to his friend, giddy with pride when the girls stared back in awe. Shikamaru was so smart but most people didn’t assume that when they first met. Shikamaru said he didn’t care what people thought, but Choji didn’t miss the way his friend’s ears turned red from the attention.

“The other three?” Yugito asked, looking back across the courtyard where the trio had headed. “Should we wait for them?”

“Oh yes, we absolutely should,” Sakura answered in a overly sweet tone as she headed into the darkness behind the hidden door. She paused just past the threshold to look back and grin and their faces. “What, you think we should wait, too?”

“It’s too troublesome to go ahead,” Shikamaru groaned.

Choji almost answered, but behind them the shouting swallowed up the silence and cut off his intended words.

He turned on his heel and looked back, along with the rest of them to where lights were turning on and exposing what looked like the Major and her staff captains. Old lights that still burned with fire instead of electricity lit up the darkness, revealing the circle of auburn haired men who had emerged from wherever it was they were hiding. One was turning around with his light, almost facing their direction.

“ _In_ ,” Yugito hissed. She pushed Sakura further in as Choji grabbed Shikamaru and rushed in behind the other two girls onto a stone landing just large enough for five bodies, or three people plus Choji.

“The door,” Shikamaru grunted, scrambling for something in his jacket. “Wait, before it closes.” 

Choji moved aside enough for Shikamaru to wedge a metal bar used for levering things, in between the door jam and the closing door. Sakura and Yugito were on the other side of the door, pushing it as close to shut as they could before the light could reach them. It closed as far as Shikamaru’s bar would let it and they held their breath, hoping for the best.

Distant lights passed back and forth outside, and shouts could still be heard from inside, but after a minute those voices died down and then the lights faded away too, and they were left in a darkness thicker than pitch and absolutely silence.

“Here,” Shikamaru offered, producing a lighter for rolled cigarets. It flickered and cast a small circle of light, but not enough to see by. Choji felt in his pockets and pulled out an old rag to offer to his friend.

Shikamaru scoffed at the offering. “What am I going to do with that? I don’t have oil to soak it with or wood for a torch. Here, look for something along the walls we can use. They wouldn’t make a tomb without leaving something behind for people to use to see where they were going.”

Choji followed the edge of the light as Shikamaru moved along the small platform that slipped into stairs. At the first step he thought he felt something and asked Shikamaru to turn the light around and check. Sure enough there was a rusted iron lantern hanging high up, almost too high to reach for anyone but Choji. When they looked inside, there was just enough oil for maybe an hour’s worth of light.

“It’s enough to get us downstairs, isn’t it?” Choji asked, looking from Shikamaru to Sakura.

Shikamaru grunted, adjusting the light inside the lantern once the fire caught. “Depends on how long or far this goes.”

“It won’t go far,” Sakura offered in a softer voice that almost sounded distracted. “It looks like it leads out to an open cavern a little ways down, after maybe four to five stories worth of stairs.”

Yugito stepped out ahead of the rest of them and started to descend the stairs, stepping out of the circle of light. Sakura turned and followed her down, seemingly unhindered by the darkness no one else could see by.

“Freaky,” Shikamaru muttered under his breath. Choji suspected his friend’s comment was more about the girls and less about the location. Sakura and Yugito both moved too easily through the darkness.

Shikamaru lifted the lantern and followed them down, hesitating every so often when the stairs dipped or were harder to see by the lantern’s light. Choji wasn’t far behind, taking up the rear. The stairs were stone cut, but after years some were less sturdy than others. The railing had been wood but was long eroded and too brittle for use, so for much of their decent they had to hug the wall and be sure of their footing. It was no surprise that Sakura and Yugito reached the end first and had to wait for Shikamaru and Choji at the final landing that turned into a high ceiling walkway they followed together for what felt like forever before something new showed up. Eventually the hallway opened up and became a proper cavern.

“What do we have here?” Shikamaru mused, lifting the lantern to better see. 

Choji watched on as a set of white stone arches caught the light and started to glitter with all their embedded minerals. Just past the arches there was a darkness and the faint white color of another set of arches. Choji thought he might see more arches even past that one, but wasn’t sure with how feeble the light really was. Each arch reached up high enough to swallow whole houses under their expansive arms. For once Choji felt tiny.

Sakura sucked in air over her teeth and grabbed for her arm, squeezing it hard enough to turn skin white underneath the sleeve of her jacket. Yugito reached for her but Sakura pulled away. She coughed and forced her arms straight at her sides.

“It’s nothing,” she whispered to the other girl before looking up to see Choji watching her. Shikamaru was a handful of paces ahead and with him most of the light left. Even with his eyes adjusted, Choji couldn’t tell what sort of face she made, but he knew she turned and jogged to the pillars where Shikamaru and Yugito were heading.

It was Shikamaru who exclaimed first, nearly dropping the lantern in his shock. The rest drew up even with the boy and kept silent in the sight of the cavern.

Choji saw the light reflect something and too it off the stonework. It was another lantern he lit with Shikamaru’s lighter. A second light with far more oil blazed to life and even more of the cavern grew in detail. 

As far as their light would stretch they saw the mounds, some covered, most not. Bodies so old and dead they were nothing but bone and metal, laying in their breastplates and on their cross guards. Helmets hammered to look like horses, sheep, and all manner of hoof footed beasts still gleamed in the light.

Choji covered his mouth as he turned the light around, barely believing what he saw. There was a smell of old must and stone, but the bodies were so old their decay was all but complete. Only bones remained. Some had collapsed enterally and were a littering on the floor, but others still held their postures. Others still were wrapped up and covered with the last best tapestry of their house.

He turned and started jogging further in along the path of the arches, further and further, bolded by his own light. The bodies did not end, even after he was far away enough from the rest of the group that their light no longer helped him. The white stone columns and pillars bounced his lantern light enough to see far and long. The bodies didn’t seem to end, even as they stacked atop each other.

“A whole city,” Choji whispered to himself in sick horror.

There were more dead than living in the city. He knew he could have probably counted, or Shikamaru could have estimated the average total of bodies, but Choji also knew no number would ever feel real to him. He had been too coddled during the war and heard too many reports with too many numbers and too many names, but they never made him sick like this. Even when he was on the field with the dying still in front of him, the vastness of the grave made his heart beat fast and hard in his throat.

How many had been killed and how many had walked themselves into their own graves?

The farther in the more he saw of wrapped and swaddled dead. Closer to the arches there were more bodies left in their dirty armor and little else. He spotted a few raised boxes of stone with steps littered with limp bodies.

Caskets?

He picked his way through the mess of bodies and bones until he was at the base. He stepped up, careful to pick his way until he was at the highest step, throwing light onto things that hadn’t seen anything but darkness in gods knows how long. There was no cover so he could stare straight down.

The bones were too small to be anything but those of children.

Children on top of children.

With a choke he looked up and saw far, far, too many stone caskets where the littlest dead were deposited in mass.

He stumbled away from the casket, still somehow careful enough to not knock into any bodies or disturb the dead fathers and sons. He found the path cut through the mass grave and turned back to where Shikamaru’s light still wavered in the draft.

His friend was on his hands and knees, ducking his head between his hiked shoulders, breathing hard through his nose as the girls stood still not far away, turning away to give him some privacy. Shikamaru struggled once more before pushing himself back up, face ashen but clean.

“You saw them too?” Choji asked, already guessing. There was a stone casket with a cleaner path cut through bodies not far from where Shikamaru had been dry heaving.

“This was never recorded.”

Choji knelt down, expression puzzled. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean-!” Shikamaru cut himself off when he realized his voice was pure anger in volume. He swallowed and tried again. “I mean, the histories of this country never recorded such a-such loss. This was never in any of the history texts. This wasn’t here, it couldn’t have been!”

“Why, because the old cities were all so pure and noble?” Yugito dryly mocked, expression still drawn tight as she glared across the fields of death.

“No, because it wasn’t recorded! These things, even if it is the enemy, histories are kept for such a reason and I’ve never heard a story about these people or the ancestors to this town. I read before I came here. They were nearly wiped out by a plague, but plague bodies are burned.”

Choji sadly looked up to a skeleton still in armor. “That’s a lot of swords for the plague.”

“I know that,” Shikamaru admitted as he deflated in on himself. “I _see_ it now.” He picked his head up and his shoulders sank further. “But there are so many, more than from _our_ war.”

The blonde woman stepped into their light and Shikamaru almost flinched at her looming presence at the edge of his shadows. “Plenty died in the aggressions between principalities, but this was an old war before gunpowder and rifles, so all they had were swords and bodies to throw at each other. This wasn’t because of a war, this was a slaughter. What did you call them?” Yugito asked, looking to Choji.

“The better off dead.”

“ _Indeed_.” Yugito looked pointedly at the stone casket and Shikamaru covered his face with his hands, unable to do half as much. 

A heartbeat later Choji saw her stiffen and then turn suddenly. She cursed, eyes flashing. “Where is she?”

He didn’t bother asking who she was talking about, Choji already knew and he turned around as well, searching the dim for her. Yugito spotted her first, somewhere deep in the darkness, and took off over the bodies like a sure footed cat that Choji couldn’t never hope to match, but he jogged carefully after her, holding up his lantern for light. He wasn’t sure how Yugito could see without it, but didn’t question it until he could see the last member of the group again.

Sakura stood with her backs to them without any light to see by. Her head was bent and she was looking down at something in her hands.She glanced up when she heard Choji coming and startled at how close Yugito had snuck. The book nearly tumbled from her hands. She cursed and recovered quickly, catching it.

“Don’t sneak like that!” Sakura hissed, sounding angry.

“Don’t wander off on your own. That’s your punishment.” Yugito glared down at the book so old it looked ready to crumble into dust. “What is that?”

“The last written records of the dead.” Sakura turned the book so it caught the light and Choji could see the cover. There was nothing spectacular about it aside from how old it was. It didn’t look like the history books Shikamaru had been so obsessed with during their schooled years.

“Let’s bring it back to see if Shikamaru can see it. He might know what to make of it. Is it written in Common?”

“It’s an older version of Common, some of the characters are different, but you can still make it out. It’s not like the writing on the wall outside.”

Sakura nodded to the path she had taken and the group moved along until they were back to the place where Shikamaru waited with his light. The lantern flickered at his heels, but he picked it up as they approached.His eyes went instantly to the book and Choji hoped it would be something that could help his friend feel better.

“What is that?” Shikamaru asked as he reached to take it from Sakura. He didn’t wait to be offered it, but traded it for his lantern instead.

The first few pages were written in, but less than halfway through the book the pages turned blank. Shikamaru flipped back to the front to read under his breath in mumbles before skipping huge chunks. He looked up before turning the page with a less troubled expression.

“I had forgotten how the old people were such zealots. They’ve mentioned the god of the rain and flood so often. He must be the patron god of the old city.”

“His name was Burzanim,” Sakura gently corrected. “That’s why the town has that name, but so many people forgot it doesn’t matter.”

“They mention him so much in here it’s a wonder that ever happened. They talk about the harvests and the politics and….and…” Shikamaru’s voice trailed off as he flipped to a new page. “It’s so ordinary. There’s nothing extraordinary here.”

“Keep reading,” Sakura softly encouraged. “There has to be something there. What about the end?”

He hesitated only a moment too long to hide the trembling of his hands before flipping through another large chunk of pages thick with dust, all the way to the end of the writings. Yugito edged behind his elbow to read over his shoulder and frowned at what she saw.

Choji felt a seed of dread grow in his stomach, one that hadn’t been there before. He felt like he was a garden of worries, cultivating whole beds of anxiety as the silence between the four of them grew. Shikamaru turned another page and found the very end. Unsurprisingly, the last few lines were a mess, written with an unsteady hand that sprawled across the page.

In a voice so unlike his own, Shikamaru read aloud.

“They have gnawed on her bones, on the bones of our babies, and not fought for their lives when we slew them. Father, how could you? My little ones, how am I supposed to live without you? Tell me the way, how may I live in this world. There is no food, only the bones of our babies we must burry. Painnim take us and damn us all. Painnim and his legions take me before I turn to the meat of my mother.”

Choji hadn’t believed he could feel worse after seeing the bodies or the small bones, but he was a garden of lush anguish all over again, far greater than before. He had never known so great a hunger, but he knew better than to disbelieve in it.

_“They were cursed for their regicide, for breaking their oaths, but you can’t blame a starving creature no matter how many oaths or swears they cast at another man’s feet. The starving know nothing of honor or logic. They know nothing of tomorrow. All they know is hunger.”_

He felt the truth of his grandmother’s words in his bones and it nearly turned his stomach.

“Shit,” Sakura whispered. Her hand was grabbing the wound under her sleeve tight enough to wrinkle. Her eyes shuttered closed. Her whisper turned into a wet chuckle as she forced her eyes open again. “I knew I should have paid more attention to Baba.” She met Choji’s gaze and inclined her head towards the journal. “Painnim, an old world god of pain and curses. He’s also called a witch king in some of the stories. Depending on who’s doing the telling he’s either a trickster god or a malicious being who feeds on the suffering of humans. He’s also one of the conquered gods.”

“I skipped that chapter in mythology,” Choji admitted, hoping it would lighten the mood if he said it with a smile.

“Conquered gods, at the end of their age their children, the humans, reached heaven and dragged them down to their deaths. Humans supposedly killed several gods, the conquered ones, and after eating their flesh they became things like demons and magic folk, depending on how evil the god they ate was.”

“ _Charming_ ,” Yugito intoned in her usual dry tone.

“Worse. If the thing I dispelled was really a wraith, it would make a whole lot of sense. The people invoked his name and offered their own fates up to the god-”

“A fairytale,” Shikamaru interrupted. “The gods aren’t real and they never were. This man’s ramblings don’t change that.”

“You’re exhausting,” Sakura scoffed, forcing her good hand off her wound. “What do you think it was we all saw? You’re still crying _fairytale_ after all that?”

“I’m still saying there could be any number of plausible explanations for what we saw. It could have been-it might have been a delirium from exhaustion. There could have been fumes we inhaled. It could have been a hoax the locals pulled. Just because we don’t understand something doesn’t mean we believe the first witch story about ghosts or demons. We’re better than that.”

Sakura glared hard and in the dark her brightly colored eyes flashed. “Your beliefs don’t make you better than me.”

Shikamaru swallowed but lifted his chin. “No, but sinner or saint, you don’t make your beliefs any more real or false then they really are. If gods were real, this wouldn’t be here. Anything that didn’t stop this isn’t worth being called a god.”

Sakura ignored the sweep of his arm, gesturing to the legions of dead barely lit by lantern light. “I think the stories say otherwise,” she whispered, gaze no less steadfast. “Gods are just as horrible as humans, and humans are often just as horrible as you can imagine.”

Choji felt unable to look away from the tension sewn between the pair of them, but something nagged until he turned and held up the lantern light.

“Guys,” he hissed, staggering back, reaching behind him for whoever he could grab. He knocked the journal out of Shikamaru’s hands in his pawing.

The lantern light swung along. Choji had seen it first: reflective eyes that stayed stationary, staring dead at the group like a pair of minute moons. There was barely a body for the light to illuminate, it was more skeleton in rags than corpse, but those eyes were flesh at least.

A corpse that stood on its own.

A corpse that was watching them.

“Yugito!” Sakura exclaimed.

The blond was already dashing ahead of the group, running low to the ground before springing up with a well aimed kick that separated skull from neck. The body shattered upon touch and crumbled to the ground without issue.

“The eyes!” Choji cried, pointing.

The corpse's head rolled and stopped, resting on what was left of its jaw. The eyes rolled out of their sockets and started to scatter backwards, against the natural gradient of the floor, faster than anything round had a right to roll up an incline.

Sakura turned her rifle off her shoulder and took aim in the dark. There was barely a target in the gloom, but she aimed, breathed deep, and pulled. There was a echoing _pow_ through the whole cavern as one of the rolling eyeballs shattered into dust and glittering powder.

The same moment her bullet made contact she cried out and dropped to her knees, rifle clattering as she grabbed at her injury. Yugito called out her name and reached for her, but Shikamaru just moved to stand in front of her and hold up his lantern, trying to see where the other spying eye rolled.

"What the hell," Shikamaru gasped.

“We should get moving. Something tell me our presence is no longer a secret here.” Choji turned to kneel beside Sakura, touching her rifle before picking it up to hand back to her. “I don’t want to stay around for whatever it was to come back.”

“Can’t. Too far to go. Besides…” Sakura lifted her face and it was still pale with pain. “It’s too late. It’s here.”

Choji didn’t ask. The answer came on a wail that had him spinning in time to see a sight of horror. 

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I was ridiculously impressed with my ability to come up with those riddles and I didn't even come up with them. Had to find something old and make it work.
> 
> Also, this chapter was a little heavier to write and I remember during the first draft, how taxing it was to get through. But yeah, now it's out there. My kids are in trouble. 
> 
> I'm sorry for slacking in my updates, I'll have another one out soon to make up for it, as the hectic school life is over until July. I have plenty of time to work on fun things. :) Hope you liked the chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

Her arm was on fire and she didn’t want to know why, she just wanted it to stop. The silver under her skin was _boiling_. She could feel it shiver and shift inside her arm, agitated and enraged like something alive would be.

“Move,” Yugito barked, pushing Sakura along.

Yugito ignored Sakura’s earlier statement and ducked her head to better barrel her way through. Shikamaru scrambled to catch up with her while Choji moved more easily. As big as he was, he probably had the best stamina in the whole group and didn’t sacrifice any speed or agility for his size.

The ran away from the stairs, down the long corridor that cut a path through the long dead bodies. Their lights made the shadows jump and move, and if Sakura’s vision had been any less than perfect she would have sworn the skeletons moved as they ran, turning their heads and empty sockets to watch them pass, but it was only a trick of the light.

 _Only a trick of the light_.

The further they ran the less her arm screamed. In between one stride and the next Sakura pushed up her sleeve and looked to see if anything had changed. The skin around the silver was red and irritated, but the silver hadn’t spread, which was what she had been most worried about.

The floor was broken under them in places, from where something large and heavy had fallen to smash open the road stones they raced across eons ago. Each person had to dodge craters in the ground before the road grew rough enough to splinter off in three separate directions.

“Which way?” Yugito asked, turning quickly to Sakura.

Shikamaru grunted from the other side, sounding annoyed.

“The middle path sloops up, and I can smell the air flow there, it’s a way out,” he cut in. Shikamaru took a few steps but paused to glance back. “Come on.”

“That’s the way through the caves, the ones Omoi and you all came out of yesterday.” She remembered vividly the sting and winced before adding, “The wraiths come back that way,”

“The other two ways smell stale,” Shikamaru grumbled. “We’ll need to risk it.”

He didn’t wait for them to agree, he just took off and Choji shouted as he gave chase after his friend. Sakura cursed and nodded to Yugito before the pair followed him up. The incline made the going slow, but they pushed on regardless, digging their toes into the soft earth patches between the stone road’s remains.

Ahead of her Shikamaru cursed and swerved to avoid a gash in their path that open, wide and yawning, leading to gods knew where. A huge pit like that wouldn't be something a person could just crawl out of! His light caught several other openings they had to carefully avoid as the path stretched ever upwards.

One wrong step and they would fall forever. 

The silver in her tingled and she staggered, knees digging into the ground as she crumpled and held at her arm. It wasn’t burning, but it was just as intense with a vengeful cold that turned the edges black and frostbitten. Shikamaru and Yugito kept running, but Choji saw the things ahead of them, if bit less clearly than Sakura.

“What is that?” he gasped, stopping in his tracks as the white fog descended.

Shikamaru kept running, passing right through it like a blind man would, but Yugito hesitated, glancing back and forth, expression tight as she looked for something she couldn’t see.

“What do you see?” Yugito yelled as the first wisps of white began to touch her ankles.

“I-I don’t know. It’s a fog of some sort,” he panicked. “Can’t you see it?”

But it _wasn’t_ fog.

Sakura could see that much.

So close together the ghosts of a hundred elders and children, mothers and daughters, looked like a cloud of white as they descended down the passageway to their graves. Morning must have been close enough to drive them back to their graves.

“It’s harmless, keep going. The fog won’t hurt you,” Sakura coughed, forcing herself up.

There was ice in her veins and even her breath felt cold as the sectors drew closer, but she didn’t flinch as the first few passed right through her. None of the children or mothers spared her a second look so she didn’t either. It was only when they bumped and pushed at her injured arm that she paused. Non-corporal spirits shouldn’t have been able to touch her, but the arms with silver in it seemed to be something they could...touch...manipulate? 

A young ghost girl with freckles heavier on one side of the face turned around, stopping where she stood. She looked and Sakura saw the moment she was seen. The girl’s eyes grew wide and she reached for Sakura. She jerked back and the ghost fell short but grabbed again and it was worse than fire when the ghost caught her arm. Sakura screamed and tried to pull free, but then there was a boy missing one eye, tugging at her too.

Behind her she heard Yugito turning back and calling out, but a gap was nearly under her and the freckled girl was already falling, her fingers like claws around the silver scar.

_Slip_

“Sakura!”

She heard the boom of Choji’s voice before she was dragged down, down, down into a darkness even she couldn’t see through.

Her back hit the side of the chasm and she fell onto a ledge that crumbled under her impact, sending her rolling down softer stone and dust that still cut and bruised what it could of her body. She stopped falling but the pain didn’t subside. She lost the wind in her lungs as the rubble rolled and it was a good half minute before she could breath again.

Sakura swallowed something thick in her throat and tried to move her toes. Those curled. She tried her ankles. Those rolled. Reigning in her panic she managed to bend her knees and lift her legs. She moved her hands too, from fingers to wrist to shoulders, but when she braced to stand there was a jolt that made her falter and settle back into the dust. Even if nothing was broken, that didn’t mean she hadn’t been hurt.

A sharp inhale told her there was something metallic in the room. She tried to roll and felt the wetness on her back. She had torn something during her fall.

A light made her look up and see the children in all their spectral glory, the freckled girl, the one eyed boy, and a much smaller child she couldn’t tell the sex of. They watched her expectantly, waiting for her to move but doing nothing more.

“You wanted to kill me?” She rasped.

No answer.

Sakura forced herself to roll onto her side, onto her silver stained arm. It hurt, but fear helped her push past the pain. The light the kids gave off was enough to see by, but there was nothing worth seeing. She was in a chasm that might lead somewhere. She hadn’t even fallen with her rifle. It had rolled off her back when she first felt the chill from the ghosts.

Never mind. It wouldn’t do her any good against spirits anyway.

“What did you want?” Sakura growled. She managed a single step towards them, and when that didn’t kill her, she risked another.

The children drifted back, expressions unreadable and gaunt.

Sakura staggered after them as the first girl turned to head further down the chasm. She glanced back every few seconds to make sure Sakura was following, but said nothing.

Sakura had never seen a ghost before, not even when her parents both died in their beds so many years ago. She thought if ever she would see the spirits of the dead, it would be then, or maybe later when she tried praying for them, in the years before her faith ran out. The stories Tsunade told rarely featured ghosts, and the ones that did were often from tribes far, far to the north. She didn’t know what to expect, but the fact that she had been dragged along by children ghosts made her reconsider.

All she knew was that they wanted something.

She stepped into moist earth and paused to dig with the toe of her shoe. Under lawyers of dirt the source of the moisture seeped up, silver liquid like the kind in her arm. She jerked back and kicked a stone over it, moving on. No wonder there were wraiths in such a place. Ichor was leaking into the earth from somewhere.

Or something.

The chasm didn’t last for long, but each turn and bend was sharp enough to hide the path just beyond it. Before she knew it there was an opening into the side of what looked like a polished hallway, made out of stone from ceiling to floor. There was light coming from the direction the kids turned down, but the closer they drew the less she could see of them until the room was fully lit and they were near invisible.

Candles thick with old wax lay scattered over the various arms of a black stone woman with several different arms. Each one had at least one light, if not many. A veil made out of stone obscured her face from the side, but as Sakura rounded the shrine and looked up into the face she could see a stone carved skull where the face should have been. Above her, _far_ above her, on the wall was the mural of a god’s destruction in faded color.

“Hello?”

Sakura turned at the soft voice and saw a young man, gray eyes wide as he raised a lantern up. He went stiff when she saw his face. One of his hands reached to cover up the holy symbol dangling from around his neck, but she had already seen it.

“You’re from the -from Niebieski.” His eyes saw her uniform for what it was under all the dirt and dust.

Sakura waved him off. “No exactly. I’m a new hire, just here to help investigate some ghostly activities. I’m not looking to root out zealots or heretics.” Glancing back up at the mural behind the statue she spoke again. “Where am I?” 

“You don’t know?”

Alone and unarmed she couldn’t find it in herself to feel frightened of the amber haired lad with too soft of a voice. Her gaze drifted back to the illustrations on the wall as she answered. “I fell down a hole, couldn’t you tell?”

On the wall there was a man shaped creature with a mouth twisted in agony as the hands of a dozen different people pulled him apart. Above the image was a painting of his fall from the high places. Ropes made from gold pulled him down. Above _that_ drawing on either side were depictions of the god making mischief on earth.

“It’s a shrine.” His voice was meek when he answered.

Sakura couldn’t help but smirk as she looked back over her shoulder at the man. “ _Clearly_.”

She rounded the black statue and saw the paint its body had obscured from her earlier angle. Men ate the god and turned into creatures, demons and monsters. One man in paint she recognized better than the others. A man wolf, larger and hungrier than any animal had the right to be. It was the same wolf she had carved onto her rifle.

The Mad Wolf.

During the war when she had been trapped on a cliff top, unable to climb down and risk being picked off by an enemy sniper, she felt herself being to starve so she carved the mad wolf into her rifle’s wood. Then she found the bravery in desperation to finally make a run for it. A bullet had grazed her ankle but she never slowed. Hunger made her brave and a little mad.

Even if it was useless she wanted her rifle, she missed it’s weight on her back.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving?”

Sakura looked up, drawing her hand back from the painting. The man was still watching her, but his lantern had lowered. It was harder to see the details of his face.

“I don’t know the way out,” Sakura drew her hand back, masking the feel of cold that thrilled the silver in her as she suspected a ghost close by. “Are you going to show me the way out?”

“I…think I can. You’re hurt aren’t you?” He nodded to her arm, the way she held it limp at her side, and then to the floor where small drops of fresh red stained the dust. “This place sunk ages ago, you’ll have to climb a bit.” 

He began to turn and Sakura felt the touch of a child’s hand on her arm as the light began to leave. There was an urgency in the contact she couldn’t help but respond to. “I thought that this would be a temple to _Burzanim_ , but these drawings are of the Witch King, aren’t they?”

The boy stopped and then raised his lantern. The silver of his eyes found her. “What are you talking about?”

Past his shoulder on the wall, the one the statue faced, a different story stood out in paint. A man in storm colored robes dragged clouds down behind him, trailing rain where he passed. There were cracks in the wall where huge chunks of the story were lost. Directly across from the witch king’s fall there was a gold throne wreathed in lightning where an old god sat, crowned with nine stars, shouldering a scepter longer than his standing body. 

Sakura had to move around the statue to see the last part of the mural, the one the invisible children tugged her towards. The mural where the god-king the skies wept rain sized tears for the death of his starving people and fell into _their_ own despair. Out of the black cloud he laid down to sleep in, a smaller, younger version of the same god slipped free.

“They’re the same.” The young man stood beside Sakura and pointed out the rest of the mural. “When his people perished there was no one to call his true name, so he became a witch king. He couldn’t answer prayers for rain because there was no one asking for them. There were only their wails and the suicide of an entire city.”

“I didn’t know gods could do that,” Sakura whispered.

“What do you know of the gods?”

She turned to face him, a bit caught off guard. He didn’t ask with a tone of mocking, but rather open curiosity. He no longer covered the religious symbol around his neck. No one worshiped the gods where she had grown up, and while desperate men will pray to anything, Sakura hadn’t known any soldiers who confessed to keeping tenants. All she knew of gods were the stories they featured in, and often times the versions her Baba told cut them out.

“Gods aren’t... _suppose_ to change.”

He watched her, a little closer than before. “Then consider this question next, what might a god want if they had anything their power might create? What would a god lack and still desire?”

Sakura glared back at the picture where the rain god wept for the death of his worshipers. “ _Adoration_.”

“Anything with the mind to understand it wants to be loved. Gods are no different.” He dropped the light again and coughed as the room went dim again. “But that’s a bit too much poetry for you, I would wager. You don’t seem to be in a state for such conversations. Wouldn’t you rather start heading out? I’ll show you the way now.” 

“That sounds like a fantastic idea,” she sighed. There were no more children tugging at her hands so she turned to follow him across the room. “What can I call you? I’m just Sakura.”

He chuckled at her blank introduction, and in Sakura’s ears he sounded young, maybe even younger than Choji. He was still an adult, or nearly an adult, but there was something young about him that she couldn’t dislike as he turned to help her up over some rubble. “You can call me Yahiko.”

“It’s good that you found me, Yahiko. I would have been lost if you didn’t.”

“How did you fall down here anyway? Most of the holes are easy to see and avoid, even at night.”

He ran ahead of her and left up onto a ledge before turning around with his lantern left at his feet to help pull her up with both hands. When his hand grabbed around her wrists, she felt more pain in her left and hissed audibly as they scrambled up over the edge. He reached to see if her arm was bleeding but she drew back.

“Sorry, it’s fine, you needn’t worry,” she said, turning her shoulder away. “I’m terribly clumsy so don’t think I’m not used to stuff like this. If there’s a hole, I’ll find it and fall in.”

She lied easily enough and he didn’t seem to be searching for any deception in her story as he turned and began mounting the shallow rubble trails that climbed upwards. The further they traveled the easier it was to recognize the ruins for the collapsed hallways they once were.

Before they could pass what felt like a halfway point, Sakura felt the first tilt of weariness that likely was due to bloodless. She paused with her good hand on the wall, waiting for the spell to wash over her and be done. Yahiko noticed and turned back, sliding to a stop with a worried expression.

“Are you okay?”

She waved him off. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

“I look amazing, thank you very much,” Sakura laughed as she closed her eyes and leaned. She felt too tired to filter her words around the near stranger.

“You really did a number back there. I can see the blood stains from here. If you take off your jacket maybe we could-” he reached for her but stopped to wave his hands in a mimicry of shedding her jacket.

Sakura reached back to tug but winced when she felt the dried blood crack in the places where it had fused together skin and scab.“Eh, I think the worst of it is over for now, no use pulling it apart when we’re here. Let’s get out of the rubble first.”

The boy hesitated before nodded. “I think I know someone who might be able to help, a friend of mine. She’ll be hesitant at first, don’t blame her. We’ve not had much to celebrate at the sight of your uniform.”

“I understand the sentiment.” Sakura sighed.

The trek didn’t last much longer before they were out in a shaft where stairs circled the wall, spiraling up and out for a couple of stories. When they finally emerged it was still the dark hours before morning bled across the sky, but the sun was up somewhere, hidden behind the ledges and edges of the mountains around them.

Sakura saw trees, and then turned around enough to see behind her the sprawl of the city. They were outside the wall, close to the twisted mountain, but not so close they could see it.

_The stone structure they had emerged appeared to be natural, but upon closer examination reveled itself to be more of a cenotaph in design._

Nearby, between the trees and the added paths, there were old ruin structures where refugees and orphans set up their tents. There were refugees inside the walls, but the great bulk of them were kept out and forced to live among the old ruins beyond the walls. His hesitation at the sight of her uniform made even more sense.

He called to her and she followed, past the low and dying fires, under a tent that could have been blue or gray. He fond a huddle and shook it gently till it roused. Sakura felt like an intruder so she looked away as the young man whispered to the woman, explaining the situation. She only looked back when she heard the sharp gasp. The friend had spotted the uniform.

“I’ll get the hot water,” he said before standing and leaving through the flaps in half tent structure. The other woman was already climbing to her feet and stumbling to the room’s fire to stoke it. The light made her dark black hair look blue.

“You,” the girl breath, “What were you doing in the catacombs?”

Sakura swallowed before answering. Judging by the tone, this woman wasn’t as trusting as Yahiko had been. “I fell down a hole. I came here because the city-the town requested aid. A team had come here ahead of us but gone missing. We were investigating leads related to the appearance of the new mountain.”

“Wha’t the extent of your business then?” she asked.

“To find our dead, to prevent more from dying, the usual. We’re not here to root out heretics if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The woman looked up from the fire as it grew in size, painting her face with its light. “Fine then. I’m Konan, Yahiko’s... sister. I will see to your wounds now.”

Sakura blinked, a bit lost by the description. Yahiko and Konan did not share some of the more basic features, from the slant of her eyes to the cut of his jaw, it was hard to see them as related in any possible way.

“I’m Sakura. Thank you for helping me out.” 

Yahiko came back into the tent with a basin of water that might have been warm, but Konan took it from him and set it on a bar of metal stretched over the fire before chasing him out. “No more sneak ins until I pull this back now,” she warned before dropping the rest of the flap and tying it shut.

When she turned back to Sakura she grunted to a nearby stool and then pointed at her jacket. “Off.”

Sakura approached the stool, but forced her jacket off before she could sit down. It felt like a new wound, when the dried blood ripped off with her blazer. She dropped the garment just as Konan came over to rip open the rest of Sakura’s undershirt and press and wet cloth to the longest and ugliest of the gashes just over her spine. Her shoulder blades had split and bled too, but Konan worked warm water over the worst of her spinal scars first.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not anymore,” Sakura answered truthfully. “It’s sore, but I’m more tired then anything.”

The woman continued to clean. “You’re alone. What were you doing out so late without others.”

“What if I told you that’s classified?” Sakura had started off teasing but at the touch of stinging ointment in her cuts she hissed and jerked.

“Then keep it to yourself and see if I’m any gentler than this.”

Sakura bit her lip and waited for a roll of pain to finish washing over her before opening her mouth to answer. “I wasn’t alone. There were three others in our group, but I fell through a hole I hadn’t seen in the dark. The others were carrying the lights. We were supposed to be investigating the new mountain, the one that looks like a tortured face. The last group that was sent here didn’t report back in.”

“You’re looking for your missing people then?”

Sakura shook her head. “ _I’m_ not, that’s not my role at least.The Major and her two staff captains were the ones asking around for their people. I was brought along because they thought I’d be helpful with the more…unexplained stuff.”

Konan huffed, pulling back from her nearly finished work. “I thought you didn’t look like one of them. Are you a contract professional or did they acquire your lands?”

Sakura explained briefly what her situation was in the most basic of terms, starting with her work on the losing side of their four year war. Konan seemed to warm up to her after that, even offering Sakura a spare shirt to have after cutting away the back of her old one.

Sakura stripped her upper half so Konan could wrap the bandages and then shrugged into a colorful tunic shirt decorated with silver and gold triangles along the front collar. Konan had grabbed at Sakura’s injured left arm and offered to look at the silver there, but Sakura politely declined before hurrying to cover it up. The sleeves ended at her wrist, so a thin strain of silver stuck out, but that was it.

“Wait here, I’m going to grab my brother. He’ll know where your people are.”

“Sure,” Sakura easily agreed, tying back her hair in a new braid. When she finished she looked up to see a half open tent flap, waving with the first rays of dawn light

She hadn’t the intention to go any further than the threshold, but when she stepped out the sun was warm over the morning mist and the world was wild and vast once more. The city was down below them, past the empty fields stripped of forests and wild growth. They weren’t far from the mysterious mountain that drew her group to the city sized town in the first place. Shikamaru had mentioned there were tribes of refugees on the outskirt, beyond the walls, but Sakura had wondered why they hadn’t seen such a colorful band during their travels. It made sense why others would miss the colony, but it didn’t make sense why ‘she’ had missed them.

She missed her rifle. Even with her back torn open and bruised, she longed for the familiar weight. She hoped Yugito had recovered it.

Sakura looked around and frowned at the way the tarps and canopy tents reflected the light, bending it around them so they were thing a person’s eyes might just slid over or miss. She hadn’t seen such materials before, not even in the N army.

Konan had told her to wait, but Sakura felt too much like a wolf in a bog, a creature out of it’s element, no longer fitting into the terrain. She kept her head low and turned back inside the tent. Her hand was on the flap to pull it back down when something made the silver in her arm boil. She choked and fell to her knees, too startled to help it. Hot, not a ghost, those made it freeze. Sakura pushed herself up and turned around, noticing the shadow before seeing the figure.

It wasn’t Yahiko, but he had the same eyes, and almost the same hair, just a bit more wild around his face. A holy symbol dangled on a wood slate from around his neck and Sakura recognized it.

“Who are-” The words were cut off as he surged forward and knocked her back she deflected but staggered and was caught too easily. One his his thick hands encircled her silver stained wrist and Sakura nearly crumpled as the heat intensified. With her sleeve pulled back she could see how the silver seemed to glow bright as the flesh around it turned red raw.

“You stopped it in your veins, impressive. I hadn’t seen anyone capable of that in the last group.”

His voice sounded far off and in her bones all at once. It rolled through her like thunder and she knew that in spite of his body of flesh, the man wasn’t a man, not truly. There was a flicker of light as another figure entered the tent.

“Wait, Painnim, she’s not really one of them!” Konan stood there and behind her the boy Yahiko watched on, expression nervous. 

“That’s of little matter.” The man called Painnim didn’t let her go, but yanked her closer. Sakura pulled back but was little more than a pebble in his grasp. He grabbed her other arm before it could swing across his face and pulled both away from each other, stretching her. “She has other uses. I may dwell inside her yet. Are you finished with the others?”

“Not yet, we were delayed.”

Painnim made a sound of displeasure before dragging Sakura to him and pinning her arms down. He was tall and strong enough to do so easily. Sakura couldn’t even kick being caught so wholly.

“Set them to the side, I have other uses for my alter. Make it bare once more.” Konan moved to do as he instructed, but Yahiko lingered, watching with wide, silver eyes. His hesitation set off Sakura’s captor, as he barked again with a voice like the rumbling of a thousand stones. “Go, boy!” 

As he watched Yahiko leave, Sakura moved before his eyes could land back on her. She felt her shoulders pop as she turned in his arms and dropped low, slipping free. She didn’t get far before his heel pinned her down to the floor. Sakura rolled, grabbing his ankle and tackling him down. She recovered quickly, jumping back up to her feet without her arms’ help. She made it a handful of steps before her feet left the ground and she was turned ankle over ass into a sphere of wind. The cushions and stools in the room all lifted with her as the wind was just that violent.

Sakura saw him reach into the maelstrom, immune to the effects of the wind as his hand made contact with her neck, drawing her closer.

“That’s enough of that, girl. You would have not gotten far with such efforts.”

Sakura wanted to rage and thrash and scream, but he pulled her down to the carpets with a hand around her neck stronger than any iron collar. The winds subsided and she felt the tears from her lashes swell again. She wasn’t a undefeated brawler, but she hadn’t ever felt so incredibly outclassed before in her life, even with her designation as a sniper.

“You’re not a god.”

“Aren’t I?” he tugged her closer and reached for one of her shoulders, popping it back into place without warning. The hand on her neck never left. “What’s a god then, unbeliever? Tell me.” He popped her other shoulder back into place and then dragged his hand down the length of her silver stained arm. “I might listen to _you_.”

“No, you’re not a god, but there is the ichor of god blood running through you, like it’s running through Yahiko. I can see that much all on my own.”

Her eyes stung as she fed her sight with the reservoir of sick green fire that burned right under her heart, the source of her pale and simple magic. With it she could see the veins of silver power running through the man before her, whereas before it was a hidden thing. She had wished she might see a weakness, but all she saw was blinding starlight and agony stained power. 

He stilled at her words and then the fingers around her neck spread, forcing her chin up. He loomed closer, towering over her and with such a slim separation between their bodies, all she could see was the endlessness of his silver eyes.

“You can see me,” he breathed, and it sounded like a new kind of thunder.

“My friends are coming for me. Let me go.”

He hummed and she felt the vibrations through his fingers. “More mortals, untouched by pale light.”

“Not quite. She’ll rip you open with her teeth if she catches you.”

“I doubt I’ll be bothered by it. No, I’m afraid I’ll not heed your request this time. I’ve waited long enough to touch this world again. I’ll stretch out my hands as I please.”

His fingers flexed around her neck and she felt herself lifted off her heels onto her toes, then she was dangling. The air in her lungs thinned and Sakura clawed at his arm with her one free hand. She reached for his face but fell short. She stretched, wanting to curl her fingers into his eye sockets and failing.

“No,” Sakura snarled as the black spots started to dance around the edges of her vision. “I won’t,” she choked.

He laughed and ran a hand up her silver stained arm. “When you wake you can tell me more about how you overcame my wraith’s curse and made it your own.”

More black ate away at her vision and she thrashed even more. Her knife, her rifle, anything. There was nothing for her fingers to curl around.She wanted her carvings, she wanted the weight of her gun.

“I’m sure you’ll have so many things you could tell me.”

Sakura seethed before the last of her vision went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, guess who just showed up and guess who's super interested in new girl in his neighborhood? Yup, some of you were right on the money with Pein and your guesses and I'm so delighted he's shown up. Does this mean another romantic interest for our girl? Well, you'll see. Maybe, maybe not. I had too much fun coming up with the lore fo this world. 
> 
> Sorry for the delay in updates, I should have another one or two coming out before the month is over!


	17. Chapter 17

She had been born with the sun in her eyes and the world rejoiced at the sound of her cries.

“ _Those are the cries of a conqueror_.”

They cheered for her arrival, she had been told. Like her cousin, Karui had been born into a line of succession not too far from a throne that only seemed capable of growing larger with each generation. She worried in the secret corners of her heart, that maybe one day the throne would grow too big for her to sit in, too big for anyone to sit in.

It should have been silly to worry about something so unlikely, but Samui raised the two of them, Karui and Omoi, with the same vision. All the others who stood in line between them and the throne were weak, sick, or too old to be worth the vote in parliament. They weren’t a kingdom, they had no king to rule over all, only princess and princesses who were as plentiful as the waves. With such an environment it would be the strong and the cunning who made it the rest of the way to the throne.

And she had been cunning.

She had been smart too. She was young and healthy and full of promise and things to prove. The throne would fit her and both Samui and Omoi would help her get there. She wasn’t going to die before then. She wasn’t.

“This isn’t happening,” she whispered to herself, under her breath once more. When she looked up nothing had changed so she dropped her eyes and whispered again.

Nearly a month ago six officers left the blue city to investigate the sudden appearance of a mountain only to fall out of contact when no one expected anything but jokes about delusional refugees and distraught survivors collectively forgetting or hallucinating together.

The war was over. People weren’t supposed to still be dying. Hadn’t they tried so hard to keep their conquest as free of sacrifice as possible? What was that for if teams of veterans were dying in ghost caves and monster bogs and haunted forests?

“This isn’t happening,” she whispered to herself as she looked up again into the sunken face of what had once been another solider dressed in blue.

They had found the six officers, as well as what was likely responsible for their death and the mountain’s appearance. But instead of answers she had more questions than ever. 

“She’s still out,” Omoi moaned softly, trying to push his shoulder up against Samui’s side. The Major was bound like the rest of them, but her face was bruised and limp, eyes shut.

One of the six officers who was still on his feet, stiffly turned in their direction. The empty pits where his eyes had been watched in the direction of Omoi’s voice. His skin had lost its color and gone taunt as dried leather with a greenish sheen. One other beside him stood a few feet off at the end of the room while the other lay lifeless on the floor. In the whole time they had been bound and captured, none of the four soldiers on the floor had stirred and Karui didn’t think they would.

_‘They hadn’t survived the transition into zombie slave, lucky for them.’_

“Let her stay out,” Karui whispered. “She’s better that way.”

Samui had suffered enough for the two of them and it made Karui sick to know that once she was awake, Samui would suffer again for their sake, again and again and again.

“It makes me nervous if I think she can’t wake up,” Omoi admitted. “What if the next time they bring her back comatose?”

Karui didn’t want to admit she didn’t know what that meant, since Omoi was the one with science and medicine in his history of academic pursuits, but with their situation so dire she forgot to feel bitter about that.

The were trapped in a cave, or a tunnel underground, next to an antechamber of stone where weird freaks in robes made zombies out of dragged in bodies. The mysterious appearing mountain and the disappearing townspeople had all been a trick to lure in forces and kill them. Was it for revenge? With so many refugees, she wouldn’t put it past them. But worst of all was what had happened to Samui.

Karui forced herself to look over at the blonde resting on Omoi’s shoulder. The first time they had taken the Major down into the chamber she had come back scratched and angry, but mostly fine. A day later, or maybe it had only been hours later, when they pulled her out, Karui and Omoi both heard the screams from where they had been kept. Samui was dragged back and dropped at their feet unconscious and bleeding from her eyes.

“They should have taken one of us.”

Omoi sucked in a breath when he heard Karui’s words. “She would never have allowed that. She swore-”

“She swore she would die for us and that’s what’s going to happen at this rate!” Karui’s voice was worse than the snapping of branches as she surged to her feet, enraged. “She committed her life to our survival and that’s what she’ll give. That’s real! Because of us she-”

Karui couldn’t finish. Somehow there were tears in her throat and a lump she had to swallow around. When she closed her eyes she couldn’t picture the life she had without Samui in it, and she didn’t want to. It wasn’t fair. Just because of how they were born into the world, their rank and class had been decidedfor them by forces beyond anyone’s control. Samui was born to a defeated lineage sworn to the conquerors, and that meant Karui would have to watch her best friend die for her sake, because Samui would never let anything happen to the two of them.

Karui wondered if watching Samui die would be worse than dying herself. Samui was closer than a mother.

“Move that one along!”

“Out of the way, it needs to be cleaned. We haven’t got all day.”

Omoi and Karui both glanced towards the end of the stone hallway where one of the zombified soldiers stood guard. Beyond him a large hallway fed into the antechamber filled with more frequent foot traffic as robed figures dashed back and forth, doing their master’s bidding.

“It must still be day then,” Omoi murmured. “It’s felt like years.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Karui replied, turning around and sitting back down in the dust next to her friend. Omoi looked up from Samui, expression hopeful as his voice dropped to a whisper. “The others saw when we were spotted. It won’t take them long to figure out something is wrong. Shikamaru is smart.”

“He’s too smart to know better,” she grumbled. “Why would he or any of them come for us? We’re their slave masters. They’ve no true loyalty to us.”

Omoi was silent for a while as more and more voices grew loud, then distant far beyond their hallway. “Maybe they wouldn’t come to rescue us, but they would do the hard thing if it was the right thing. At least Choji would, I think.”

“I doubt that,” Karui whispered, wincing at the memories of all their interactions.

She couldn’t remember a single instance of kindness on her part while he had always been pleasant and curious with them. Maybe it was fair that he wasn’t with them, suffering their same fate.

“They’ll come for us.”

Karui and Omoi both gasped at the sound of Samui’s voice, settling into the space on either side of her. The blonde still had blood dried around her eyes, but her lashes fluttered as she lifted her chin. With her eyes still shut she turned her head in the direction of the end of the tunnel, where the noises were loudest.

“You’re awake! Oh, how are you feeling?” Karui asked, feeling sick as she saw the dark bruises and blood stains from under her eyes. Samui’s lips were dry and split but she licked them anyways, wincing only slightly. 

“Your eyes,” Omoi breathe. “Can you open them?”

Samui dropped her head, letting the mess of her hair cover more of her profile. “I’d rather not investigate that right now. They still throb.”

“What were they trying to do to you?”

“Omoi-” Karui hissed.

“S-sorry.”

“What did you mean when you said they’d come for us? How can you be sure?” Karui asked. “They could just as easily head back without us and claim we died on this mission.”

Samui didn’t look or move her head, but she pointed to the end of the hall. “They might leave us, but they wouldn’t leave the new girl they brought in.”

“What new girl?” Omoi asked even as Karui stood and jogged to the end of their prison.

The reanimated ghoul who was their guard turned to block her with his pole arm, but Karui kept herself back enough that she could still see down into the chamber where Samui had been tortured on a stone alter. It was the alter they took all the people they tried to turn into zombies or, (if their chanting was to be believed), god vessels.

Karui could see the man that had caught them in the garden, the same one from the inn, beside him was a dark haired girl and another young man with the same damn aburn hair as all the other clones. Karui had counted five other look alike in addition to the one they all seemed to defer to.

Lounging on the stairs up to the stone alter their leader cradled a limp body while the ones in hoods washed down the stone in lavender and oils. Karui almost didn’t recognize the limp body since her head was arched back, throat pushed out and exposed, but the man played with her hair and tugged at her chin.

When the hodded figures retreated he stood with the girl and turned so that Sakura’s pale face could be seen. The same ropes that bound Samui were secured around Sakura’s wrists and ankles, but extra care was give to the arm with the silver stained wound.

“Karui, what is it?” Omoi called out to her from deeper in. “Who do they have?”

Karui watched in mute horror as the ordeal began anew. Lightning ran through all the silver eyed vessels before charging the stone. Sakura went from limp to livid and alive as electricity burned her down to her blood. There was a new awful sound, like the screaming of a wounded animal. It was a sound no woman should have been able to make.

“They’ll come for her,” Samui called out from deeper in.

“If she lives through this,” Karui whispered.

When he spoke to her, his voice rattled around in her skull for a while before she could make sense of it. She wasn’t a cleric, she wasn’t blessed with the ability to hear the words of angels, so his far speech was something she had to get used to.

But… it was something she _could_ get used to. Speech that would bleed the ears of mortal men made her dizzy but little else. Sakura _could_ adapt.

“You’re not like them. How long have you known you were different?”

She didn’t respond, pretending she couldn’t hear his speech. Sometimes he manifested as a specter, and rarely he visited in person, but it was harder to ignore him when there was something she could see with her eyes, so she shut them tight.

This time the man called Pein stood in her cell, tall and strong with a long cloak well cut for his broad shoulders that touched the floor. His face was clean and free of blemish, the way all beautiful men’s faces were.

He didn’t seem to mind that she closed her eyes to him, but he drew closer, looming over her.

“Did you wake up after the Conflux of Stars, or did you know you were a marvel before the star rivers joined?” his voice asked.

She shut her mouth, closed her eyes, and pretended she was asleep again. Her body hurt too much, but he didn’t need to know that. For all he knew, she was too tired to hear his words.

“I’m going to guess then, and you can tell me if I got it right or wrong later on. I guess that you were always a little bit off. You were the puzzle piece that never fit. There was something unsettling about you deep in your bones from as far back as you can remember.” There was a pause where he seemed to be listening, waiting for an answer before prompting. “How did I do?”

She stayed still; her eyes, her heart, her mouth, all still. She wouldn’t engage with him this time. She wouldn’t talk back and encourage him anymore.

“You never fit anywhere did you? Not in your home where there was no place for you, not in your army where they put you somewhere out of site, not in any of your friend groups and not in any of the hearts of potential lovers, hmm?”

He reached for her and Sakura snapped, grabbing at his wrists and dragging him close enough to twist into the wall. She screamed, throwing him with all her strength, hoping his head would split open on the stone, but he just laughed and caught her, impossibly strong.

Sakura snarled and tried to pull him down off his feet where she could stomp him down but he kept laughing, strong as an oak’s trunk and just as immovable. Even with her fingers around his throat she-

Lightning ran through her and she felt it behind her teeth, tingling and burning. With a cry she dropped her hands and fell back, stumbling against the same wall she had hoped to hurt him with. The Lightning didn’t last, scattering off her across the stone floor and into nothing. She heard the crackle in her hands and shut her eyes to it.

“I hate you.”

“You shouldn’t,” Pein chastised with a sigh. “I’m all you have left.”

“You can’t do anything with me,” Sakura said. She turned over her shoulder to spit onto the floor but the taste of lightning still stuck inside her mouth making her grimace. She glanced up through her heavy lashes, barely awake. “If you could you would have done it by now. You’re just grasping at wheat stalks like this.”

“You’re weakening.”

“Not the way you want me to,” she laughed.

Pain tilted his head. “Why is that? Tell me.”

Sakura closed her eyes and let her head rest back against the stone. “No use in doing something like that. Leave me alone or kill me. Don’t drag this out any longer than it needs to be.”

“You in a hurry to die little rifle girl?”

It was with great bitterness Sakura forced the next few words out. “I don’t have my rifle anymore.”

“You don’t need it. Guns are too uncultured and not a thing suited to the future. What do they do but ensure the rich might better subjugate the weak. You think it surprising that the only princedom with an ammunition factory was the one that conquered two other princedoms in the last fifty years? I don’t care for them. We’re turning back to the old ways I say.”

“No such way.”

She heard the rustle of fabric and cracked open a single eye to see where he crouched down in front of her, one arm draped across his knee as he watched her with a tilted expression. He seemed almost puzzled by her.

“I’ll _make_ a way. The gates to hell and heaven are open once more and this world will be the bastion for a new revelation. The stars have spoken and the time has come for the downtrodden to have their salvation. I won’t listen to their cries anymore.”

“You see yourself as some savior,” Sakura breathed out, letting her eyes close once more. She didn’t need to watch him for his expressions. She didn’t care what he thought or did. “And maybe in a different lifetime I might have been able to agree with you for standing against my one time enemy, but you’re delusional if you think this world is something so easily changed. You’re just another spoke on the wheel.”

“Am I?”

His hand reached for her and Sakura felt him brush back the hair hanging over her shoulder, tucking it behind her ear. It felt dirty but he still brushed it back when it slipped free a second time. Drawing his hand back his knuckles dragged over her cheek.

“You’ve never lived in a world where the wonderful wasn’t just in your stories. I’ll show it to you. What’s the use of a bullet when a demon wears twelve different types of fur? What are the inventions of man to a spirit that haunts his brain for weeks and a day? What can man do but cower before the changes of our world. Conflux has spoke, and the stars bid it so. We’re in an age of rebirth. Shake off the modern ways and embrace what you were raised on, silly girl.”

“If you really knew anything about me, you’d know I don’t take orders very well. I was so bad at it they never gave me a rank,” Sakura laughed. It was enough and she forced her eyes open. “I’m not going to be what you want. Beat me all you like.”

Pein’s eyes slipped off her face to the silver of her arm. He hummed and leaned forward, onto his one knee so that his hand touched hers. The silver ichor under her skin screamed at the contact and it was like being back on the stone alter again. The silver under her skin was boiling.

She screamed against it, seeing in her mind a mess of visions too washed out to comprehend. He was trying to remake her. A lesser man would be a husk by now, but Sakura had her own green fire that flared to life and beat back his ichor as best it could. She was still human, but she wasn’t as human as the ones he sacrificed. 

With Herculean effort, Sakura pulled away from him, staggering up and then stumbled off her feet onto her side. She saw him move towards her and rolled back, scooting and pushing at the floor to create distance as she snarled.

“Don’t fight it. Become like me and you’ll understand.”

“Fuck you!” Sakura spit.

“If that’s what you want…”

Sakura felt her gut roll at his teasing. He didn’t advance on her again, but he didn’t need to. She had a spark of magic behind her breastbone, burning like a green fire, but he was an entire sky full of storms in comparison. She couldn’t match up. Their differences were too great. He recognized something on her face and smiled for it.

“No, you can’t stop me, little one. You should know that better than the others. You may resist all you want, but I am a god and my justice won’t be denied.”

She tried to think of the stories Baba Tsunade would tell her, of the old gods and those divine beings who stepped down as manifestations of the world, the wicked gods and the just ones. A high king who held the whole of every smaller princedom hostage made it his mission to erase their names from history, and for five hundred years their existence had been stripped away. Only the oral traditions escaped the butchering of history. 

Instead the kingdom and countries and princedoms decided on a heaven where the people were tested, and every country told you a different secret.

_There is a test in heaven where the righteous will pass and the wicked will perish, so says the white country._

_There is a test in heaven where the wise will pass and the foolish will perish, so says the black country._

_There is a test in heaven where the mighty will pass and the feeble will perish says the red country._

_There is a test in heaven where those who respected their families will pass while the abandoned are cast out, said the far country._

Sakura couldn’t remember what the other places valued. She didn’t know if she believed in any of them anyways, but looking at Pein made her want to remember the stories before people started believing in tests at heaven’s doors.

What were the old gods for? Why did the people worship them if the gods didn’t even care?

 _‘But they do care. They care for their flock, for their family. The voices of their chosen are always in their head and the world is shaped by their hands at their behest. Listen closely child, and let me tell you the story of the god who wept for forty days at the death his shepherdess. This is the story of the great flood_.’ Baba Tsunade was spinning a story even though Shizune was absent and it was such a rare treat for Sakura.

 _‘I thought that was caused by the boy who opened the door to the sky?’_ a younger Sakura asked innocently.

_‘That’s a story for Shizune, not you.’_

Sakura mistook her grandmothers words. She thought she was special. ‘ _Tell me, tell me.’_

_’There was once a god who loved a girl and the whole world suffered for it.’_

Sakura remembered Baba Tsunade’s words from long ago as Pein stood and brushed the dust off his shoulders. The memory helped her understand him better. He wasn’t just a monster, he was power with a mission she could not stand in the way of. A hundred different voices, all suffering and calling out to him for justice were his lifeblood and he would heed their call. If not for justice then for vengeance. 

“I’m not going to fold under you,” Sakura cursed bitterly, knowing what her words meant.

Pein nodded. “You can try. I’ll leave you for today, silly girl.”

And he did.

The door behind him closed and the echo of his footsteps made her want to fall apart. With no one to see her cry she let herself go, not caring who heard her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes:
> 
> Do you know how hard it was not to write a sexy god in love with Sakura story after this chapter? Like, I had this plan, an outline I wanted to follow, and then I wrote this exchange between Pein and Sakura and it gave me feelings.
> 
> So little of this story went according to plan. It had started out as a simple Witcher AU fantasy with Sakura and Choji and maybe some other characters (I wanted to write Choji because he is such a bara teddy bear and he deserves some love) but then I really liked this side character Yugito and it turned into an OT3 and that was great, but then here we go with Pein and....yo, I don't know if I'll be able to control myself when she eventually meets Sasori. You know I'm a mess of bad habits right? 
> 
> I loved writing this story with all the high fantasy elements, the gods, the stories, the magic...it's been my great and utter pleasure. Thank you so much for your kind patronage and kinder words. I'm so glad you're enjoying it too. After this only five more chapters to go!
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter.


	18. Chapter 18

Their funds were low, but not low enough that they wouldn’t be able to afford to keep staying at the inn for another couple of weeks. It had been eight days since the Major, Omoi and Karui had been last seen, and nearly just as long since Sakura fell into a pit that went nowhere. Nothing came of their excavations and explorations. Yugito had scaled down not much later, but there was never anything to show for their efforts.

“No body means she didn’t fall and die. She’s somewhere,” Yugito concluded before going to bed with the recovered rifle.

Shikamaru submitted a report and two days later the response received said that a new unit would push in later that month, but nothing else about the lost Major and her staff captains. The callousness of the printed words irked Choji but Shikamaru understood it better, because two more heads in line for a throne were gone and that made everyone else in the queue pleased.

Shikamaru smoked at night again, and Choji took his dinners to his room to eat alone.

In the morning they went into the catacombs, the sunken temples shown to them by refugees, and anything else that might be connected to the mass grave, but nothing turned up. Even the caves inside the Howling Mountain turned up nothing; not even a phantom crossed their path.

It was just days of nothing.

Choji took his meals to his room and loses the door behind him, hearing Yugito settle in for the night with Sakura’s rifle. He left the dishes at the desk and sagged into a spot on his bed that didn’t creak as much. He was hungry enough to eat twice as much, but he fought that urge and instead turned around and knocked on the wall. A moment later Yugito knocked back, sounding angry. Knowing she was still awake he took his food and approached her door.

She answered with a scowl. “I wasn’t hungry.”

“I am, but I shouldn’t be. Share a meal with me. I need someone to help me with something.” And when she looked ready to shut the door in his face he added an extra, desperate, ‘please’ that made her reconsider.

Yugito closed the door behind him and Choji set the dishes down on her nightstand before turning to sit on the edge of the bed that looked less rumpled. He spotted the rifle half buried in the wrinkled sheets.

“What do you need help with?” Yugito asked.

“Sit and eat first. You’ll be no good to anyone if you starve yourself to death.”

Yugito grumbled but grabbed a piece of meat, ignoring the fork, and sucked the sauce off her fingers. She ate a few more handfuls and then sat, face still set in a scowl.

“Talk, Choji.”

He nodded, spearing more vegetables. “Sakura was special, compared to the rest of us, wasn’t she?”

Yugito bristled and there was something deeper than skin that ruffled in agitation at his words. She didn’t say anything though so Choji went on.

“She’s alive, I know that. _You_ know that. But I can’t help but feel that the reason she hasn’t come back is because of that special quality, the one the Major was so desperate to have in the first place. She wasn’t superstitious or religious, but she was cautious and open minded enough to believe in anything I think. Can you tell me what you think it was that made Sakura special to the Major?”

“I thought you said you wanted my help with something.”

Choji didn’t flinch at her tone, though he might have if the situation hadn’t been so dire. He had felt sick with guilt too many nights now.

“This _will_ help me. I’ll get to what I want to do later. First, please help me understand.” 

For a while the pair stared each other down and it was like a wildcat staring down a bull. He could have been a mountain and she still would have looked at him the same way.

“What,” she said, “are you willing to believe?”

“Anything.”

Yugito nodded and then turned around to grab Sakura’s rifle and drag it forward. “Sakura should have and could have killed me but she didn’t. I hated her. She came down with fever and I could have let her die, should have, but by then I loved her and knew that if I betrayed every code of my heritage, every ruthless training in my lineage, and saved her life I would never belong to myself again.” She traced the carvings of three wild horses fondly before looking up again. “But what can you do when you see the angels who walk among us for what they really are?” 

Choji felt the warmth of her words and his lips twitched up on their own. “An angel?”

Her fingers trailed off from the horses over to the first few bones of the skeletal snake weaving through carved flowers. Choji saw her shiver. “Some sort, I think. Maybe one of the fallen ones, maybe not. But you’re right. She’s special, more than you or the Major could know. I saw it before Confluence but after the holiday, it was too much to dismiss with the usual skepticism.”

“The whole world has changed since then. My grandmother used to tell us that Confluence is when the world changes for better or worse, losing old magics or gaining new ones.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a wrapped pouch. “I was wondering if it was worth believing in that story, now I don’t think I have a choice.”

Yugito’s fingers stilled over the carvings as her eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”

“It’s another myth.” Choji turned the pouch over and three pills spilled out, each round and a different color. He held up the green one. “This is my family’s legacy. If you believe fairytales, this is how the Akimichi became something more than just brutes. The green one is for my spirit, the yellow for my mind, the red for my body. Consuming each will trigger a different effect.” 

“And you’ve always had these?”

“Yeah, I’ve even tried them before as a kid. They made me sick and I almost died. My old man told me I wasn’t big enough for them yet. My grandmother said they wouldn’t work at all, not in this world, but I think that might not matter anymore, not after Confluence.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Yugito queried.

“Confluence let a ton more magic back into the world, monsters, ghosts, wild things we can’t even understand. I think it might have let my family’s magic back in too.”

Yugito nodded at the first pill. “What does the green one do?”

“It sets my spirit free. I’ll be able to travel out of body.”

Yugito almost rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard of people claiming to do that. Is this what you needed help with?”

“It’s also why I needed the food,” he laughed. “These don’t go down well on an empty stomach.”

“Why me? Shikamaru is your friend. You should trust him more than me.”

Choji rolled the other two pills back into the pouch and put it away, humming in agreement. “I trust him well, but he doesn’t believe in this stuff nearly as well. You do.”

“Just barely.”

“Yeah, but you believe enough for Sakura’s sake, right?”

Outside the dusk was drawing up like a rolled curtain and night swept in. The first few stars were blinking in the sky. Yugito swallowed and leaned forward, arms crossed and resting on her knees. “What do you need me to do?”

Choji finished the food and accepted the extra pillows to prop up behind his head. He leaned back in bed and popped the pill, swallowing it down with honey mead to help mask the awful taste. He felt sick at first, but then that passed. Yugito hovered and Choji was about to warn her it could be a while before he fell asleep, but noticed she was already moving to cover him with a blanket…or his body at least.

He was already separated from his body, hovering mere inches above it. He inhaled once and with the next exhale he drifted further up and up until he stopped at the ceiling, bunching up there.

It worked!

If the stories and myths were anything to go by, he would be able to travel leagues in another heart’s beat and find a way through walls that stopped lesser men. But more than that, he could pull his spirit along any string of fate that ran through him.

There was one for his father and mother, the remains of one for his grandmother, one for Shikamaru, several others for his cousins still alive, and even one for the Major and Omoi. He was surprised to see one for Karui and Yugito, especially since his tie to Yugito was thicker than the one to Shikamaru, but wasn’t surprised at all how thick the one between him and Sakura was.

Thick and coiled like a rope, he gave it a tug before following along, into the dark, into the night, into the earth, into the stone of the outer city walls, all the way into the haunted mountain that had already explored. As a spirit he saw things mortal eyes shouldn’t have been able to.

There were tents far off in the forests, hidden by trees and tarps that bent the light around their forms. People didn’t burn fires but the interiors of their tents glowed with light. There were people in bright colors and dark colors alike moving about.

He turned away from them and followed Sakura’s string into the earth, following a hidden pocket of stone cut tunnels to a secret corner of the mountain.Omoi’s string ran the same way, but diverted slightly. It was hard to see, but he spotted the faint whips of Karui and the Major’s strings as well. They were along the way so he passed by low enough to catch sight of where they were being held.

Each one looked worse than the other, with the Major looking worst of all with blood caked eyes and stringy blond hair in a mess around his face. She rested with her head on Omoi’s lap. Karui slept along the far wall, between the cold bodies of two dead guards. After days it seemed she had no reservations about using their corpses for protection against stray winds. Omoi looked like he hadn’t slept half as much as he should have. Dark bags pulled down his face under his eyes.

Choji turned back to Sakura’s string and pulled himself along. He saw a wide open cavern where people in hoods wiped down the stone monuments, one of which was a stone table etched in markings he couldn’t decipher. She wasn’t much further, behind the door in a room off to the side. He passed through stone and stopped short.

His heart swooped at the sight of her. There were trails of blood colored tears down the front of her face, but her eyes were hard and deep, deep green, like the color driftwood made when it burned on the black sand beaches. Her lips were bleeding and split too, but they still made a strong frown on her face. She sat up against the wall looking angry at nothing as she nursed her one arm that had turned almost completely silver. What had once been a single vein now was a whole sleeve. 

“You’re not going to disperse it tonight?”

Choji had to turn to see the figure of a man standing against the far wall, holding his elbows as he watched. He was familiar, but also not. Choji couldn’t remember ever having seen the man, but there were aspects he recognized. He had seen those silver eyes before…somewhere.

Sakura licked her teeth and then spit blood out so that it landed between them. “I’m not in the mood to entertain you.”

“You’re looking remarkable for how many days it’ been now. The longest anyone’s resisted the process was four days, but you’ve more than exceeded that and look….you’re not even deteriorated. I don’t think you’ll turn out like the others.”

“What a privilege,” she mocked.

The man took a step forward but stopped in front of where her spit had landed. “You look in pain.”

“I’m sure you’re delighted.”

“I’ll be even more delighted once you see to that arm, unless perhaps you want to lose it. Can you even bend your fingers anymore?”

Choji glanced between the two figures before drawing closer to Sakura. He could see the silver shining bright through her skin from shoulder to fingertip. At her shoulder where the silver spilled under her flesh he could see where the boundaries were red and irritated.

The hurt in his chest only compounded at the sight of her pain.

Sakura reached up with her good arm and tugged at the fabric of her torn sleeves. “And who’s fault is that?”

The man stepped even closer and then knelt down in front of her. “You’re not wearing a uniform now, you owe no one your allegiance. Do not think that throwing yourself in front of those others will keep me from turning the blue country red with their blood. It’s a wasted effort. They would not do the same for you.”

“So? I don’t do anything for anyone. I do what I want for my own sake.”

He laughed and it sounded like thunder and something far off. He touched the side of her face and then stood, turning and heading out the heavy stone doors which opened for him without touch. He paused on the threshold and half turned back, but when he saw her glare the smile stretched and he exited without another word.

As the stone doors settled back into place Sakura’s glare fell away and was replaced by tears. She tugged at the fabric around her arm, pushing it up as far as it would roll. With two fingers trailing up and down, she began to hum.

Choji watched as the silver under her skin moved, growing thinning and fainter as it leaked out from her arm into her neck, across her collarbones, down her back, and out of sight. She sang under her breath, manipulating the silver into going wherever she pleased until only half her arms was coated in silver. She could move most of the fingers, but one pinky still was too stiff for that.

Her voice ended on a choke as her head fell limp. The silver glowed bright and then went dim, settling in spiderweb patterns from shoulder to neck. He couldn’t see behind her but he saw it disappear behind her throat and didn’t doubt it traveled further down.

She only lifted her head once when she heard the echoing laughter from beyond the walls, somewhere further in. It wasn’t mocking, but it was the laughter of a victor. She spit once more and then closed her bright green eyes. It was like a light going out in a room. Everything seemed darker when she closed her eyes.

 _‘Who was that? What did he want?_ ’ He asked but as expected, the sound didn’t reach her.

It made him want to move the way fear made him run. Sakura looked so small alone in the dark with silver staining her skin from finger tip to finger tip. But instead of running he wanted to touch her, hold her and take away the pain. He reached for her but his hands passed right through. There was nothing he could do.

 _‘This won’t last,_ ’ he promised. When he tried to kiss her forehead his lips passed right through, but he had known they would do that.

Sakura stayed still so he moved on, seeping out through the wall in spectral form. With a backwards glance he memorized the size and shape of the doors that kept her from them. He wouldn’t forget them.

He drifted down the halls, knowing he would be able to find his way back to his body as long as Yugito was close to it. He memorized the tunnels as best as he could, struggling with the ancient markings that distinguished one wall from the next.

A young man came up the passageway and Choji almost flinched when he mistook the figure for whoever it had been in Sakura’s room. They had the same gray eyes and hair, but the one in the hallway was younger and more slight in build. Behind him a young woman was talking to another gray eyed man, this one much larger than the other two. Each male with gray eyes had the same hair color though.

He sped alone as fast as he dared, heading deeper. The chamber they had come from wound on and on until he started to recognize some of the broken decor. When the passage opened up to a balcony overlooking the mass grave they had all stumbled through so many days ago, he wasn’t surprised. Several figures stood along the edges in tattered uniforms he didn’t recognize except from historical artworks. They weren’t ghosts, they were solid, but they were still….dead.

Red coats, white coats, and blue coats. The further he traveled the more he saw the difference of the many, many reanimated bodies that lined the balcony, standing listless at attention.

The balcony filled into another chamber where the bodies were seemingly beyond number. It made Choji stop short and struggle for a grasp to keep his spirit from snapping back into his body. He drifted close to one and saw a vein of silver run across the body.

“It’s different than what’s in your companion.”

Choji startled, turning. The man that had taunted Sakura stood between two listless bodies, looking smug. There was no one else around, no one alive at least.Behind him a fountain bubbled with running silver liquid. Choji recognized it as the same stuff staining all the corses as well as Sakura’s left arm whatever it was.

Choji started to withdraw, drifting to the side, but the man’s silver eyes tracked him.

“You can see me?” Choji guessed.

“And hear. The others won’t be able to, but…” his eyes left Choji’s form to land on the blatant silver staining a dead man’s face, “none of that matters. What should I do with you?”

Choji bolted, turning and spiriting away as fast as he could make his spectral body go, only to stop short when another transparent spirit blocked the way. More than just reanimated corpses, there were also the wraiths like the one Sakura suffered from that still posed a threat. The one in front of Choji doubled and another two came in from the sides.

What would happen to him if only his spirit was hurt? Would he ever wake up? Would he make it back? He should have taught Yugito how to pull him back in case of emergencies.

“What are you?” Choji tried, turning and facing the silver eyed man again.

The look that met him was unimpressed. “A god.”

_There is no food, only the bones of our babies we must burry. Painnim take us and damn us all. Painnim and his legions take me before I turn to the meat of my mother_

“What do you want?” Choji tried again.

The man sneered. “What does any god want?”

Choji glanced from one materializing wraith to the next. “Worshipers? Sacrifices?”

The man scoffed. “Such a typical heath answer. A god wants for no mere things. A god without worship is still a god.” His voice built up into a final crescendo that shook the room with echoes of thunder. Choji felt the fear mount in him even if he didn’t have bones to shake.

“Then what is it?” Choji shouted. The wraiths hadn’t moved, but he still felt trapped. “What do you want?”

The man reached up and grabbed the face of a reanimated corpse. He squeeze the cheeks enough to make the lips pucker before turning it aside. “I want what every gods wants, to see the fulfillment of my nature brought about by my own hand. I am what my people need me to be. I brought the rain and harvested the thunder for their skies yet I still suffered their wails of torment until it was all that I knew. I will bring that sound to the world and do as they bid me.”

“But that was ages ago! That doesn’t make any sense for you to do anything now. There’s….there’s peace.” Choji sputtered but the words still came out sounding wrong. There was an end to war and no more armed conflicts, but people still hated and princedoms still waited for their chance to take advantage of an opening.

“You can’t hear it? They’re still starving and crying. In the tents outside those walls they go to bed cold. The Blue Army is as greedy as ever. It’s just a different color they dyed red this time. Their appetite will never be satisfied.”

“You’ll just bring more war.” Choji choked on a memory of battle, one of the very few he had the misfortune of participating in. He had no stomach for war and he didn’t think he ever would. Maybe that would make his father ashamed, maybe that would disappoint Shikamaru, or ruin the precious favor he had earned in Sakura’s eyes, but the very makeup of his soul hated war and that would never change.

The man waved his hand and the silver in the corpses’ skin flashed in response before each body fell into a crouched style bow. Their heads all bent _Painnim_ stood tall amongst them. The room seemed to vibrate with static energy.

“Indeed, a war to end all wars. It may yet be my fate to return this earth to her wildest roots. We shall see how soon the princedoms crumble.” 

Choji thought of Shikamaru and an idea tickled his brain. He stayed in place, equally distanced from each of the armored wraiths and held still. “Then what do you need Sakura for? Are you going to make her into one of them?”

“That’s not what the ichor is for. She’ll not be a dead thing, not with the strength she’s shown so far.” _Painnim_ absently pet the head of a kneeling solider.“But I’ll not speak of her to you any more than this.”

With a jerk, he waved his hand and Choji saw the gesture for what it was, having anticipated such a commend.He sank fast and low into the earth, passing through the stone under his feet into a new chamber and then sideways into more rock. He kept defending, knowing the more material he passed through the better his chances of escaping.

He broke the surface and saw he was outside. It took a second more to find the correct direction before he was shooting off in that direction again. He was going to be okay. No one had managed to follow him out. He hadn’t-

Choji screamed and pulled back to hold the scar along his shoulder. It bled over his fingers but he had no blood to leak. Still it hurt from where the wraith had reached him with its blade. He tried to pull back but stopped short when he saw the other two. Turning around he realized he was surrounded and this time he didn’t have a trick to fall back on.

He saw the blade and then he felt the pull in his gut. He only blinked, but in that split second the entire world changed. He sat up gasping in bed, the candles all burned down and replaced. Yugito stood over his body watching the doorway.

“I told you it would work, so put that thing down girl.”

Choji blinked, realizing he wasn’t a spirit anymore. His mouth felt awful and his shoulder still hurt, but he sat up in bed and searched for the source of that voice he recognized.

“How are you here?” he asked, leaning on the bed frame for support.

Chiyo folded her hands atop the cane and cackled. “I’m here because I want to be, don’t question it, boy!”

Sasori leaned in the doorway looking bored while Gaara played with his fingers beside her knees. He looked up and saw Choji watching him, prompting him to pause long enough to manage a smile. Behind him the old woman moved.

“Where’s the others? The drunk said there would be more,” Chiyo demanded, glancing about the room.

“Others? Who is the drunk who sent you?” Choji stuttered, watching as Yugito held Sakura’s rifle closer. “Oh-Sakura! Yugito, I saw her, I saw all of them. I know where they are.”

“That’s the name of Tsunade’s granddaughter?” Sasori interjected. Choji and Yugito turned as one to stare at Sasori who had spoke up. To hear him mention Sakura felt…odd.

“The very one,” Chiyo said, tapping the window. “We have an hour before daylight. That’s enough time to get there before this city gets swallowed up.” She glanced back and nodded to the rifle in Yugito’s hands. “Those blue coats are coming, and not just a few.”

Choji felt sick.

_A war to end wars begins with a single shot._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys know how excited I am for how close the story is getting to some of my favorite parts? First off, Sasori showed up again. :D And Chiyo dragged Gaara out with her. They're fun. 
> 
> Thank you for all the love and support guys!


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Wars aren’t measured in wounds.”
> 
> “Sometimes they should be.”

She dreamed of boys and girls being forced to suffer lighting until they were spent and supple, then the silver was forced into their bodies and they either perished or became-

What?

What did they become?

 

 

* * *

 

There was screaming and then there was smoke and she could feel things moving out of the vibrations in the stone somehow, but Sakura still couldn’t manage to lift her head or care. She was too tired for any of that. Something tremendous was transpiring around her but she couldn’t be bothered to care for it.

All she wanted to do was sleep.

Her shirt was a mess and when she sagged it fell further open. The silver was near her heart. Soon not even her songs would be able to keep it out. What would happen to her then? Would she turn out like Yahiko and the others who shared the god’s ichor? That’s what he said would happen, but Sakura didn’t want to believe it.

He wasn’t a real god. He wasn’t really Painnim like from the stories. He was a ghost of a god. They were all ghosts. Soon she would be too.

She was already starting to see them when they weren’t there. Why had she imagined Choji in the room watching her? Why had she dreamed of a warm kiss…?

For some reason the memory roused her more than any sense of urgency or instinct of self preservation had. Sakura touched the floor and pushed the rest of her body up. She was weak, but she could still stand and she could still walk, even if she was covered in silver spiderwebs.

The room was dizzy and moved with her, but she made it to the door where she gave up and slid down to the ground. She lay there again, maybe sleeping, maybe dreaming. When she opened her eyes again it was because someone was pushing open the door she leaned against. It made her body roll out of the way and she grunted in displeasure.

“Here!” Karui cried, coming around the stone door.

And Sakura wasn’t sure she wasn’t dreaming, but she reached for the arm flailing in front of her face and pulled herself out. Karui caught her with a breathy huff before helping her stand.

“Use your legs, damn it.”

“Not a dream,” Sakura admitted to herself as she forced herself upright. She blinked hard at Karui and grunted again. “I don’t think I would have dreamed you as my rescuer.”

“The feeling is mutual, but Samui said you were better to us alive than dead.”

“That’s not what you said back in the chambers,” Omoi called out from on the other side of the door.

Sakura pushed off of Karui enough to find balance before taking her first step beyond the stone. She saw Omoi grinning with a gaunt Major hanging off his shoulder. Samui looked up and Sakura flinched at the bloody and empty socket. Her one remaining eye narrowed and proved to Sakura she wasn’t as beaten as her body might have implied.

It didn’t do much to ease the guilt in her gut Sakura felt. When she was too weak to protest, Painnim would leave her behind and drag Samui out instead. Sakura lost track of how many days it took, but she knew she was able to withstand less and less after each session.

It was too easy to picture the Major, a woman of bold ambition and ruthlessness, tearing her own eye out to keep from turning into a fallen god’s puppet.

“Shut up,” Karui hissed, jogging out and around Sakura to support Samui’s other side. “We need to move while all the dead guys are distracted. Do you know how to get out of here, Sakura?”

Sakura still felt disoriented. “Dead guys? The reanimated corpses?” She inhaled again and braced on palm against the wall. “No, I’m not sure right now. Wh-why did they leave? What happened to the ones that were supposed to be guarding you?”

“Reinforcements finally came,” Samui interjected, sounding as fierce as ever. “Either for our side or the enemy. Someone saw the venerable state this location was in and suited up their men to claim it.”

“It’s our side, those are Niebieski soldiers,” Omoi cheered in misplaced optimism.

Sakura felt the room steady under her. Her fingers itched to hold something familiar. “Do either of you have a rifle by any chance?”

“Just the rags on our backs. We’ll have to make a run for it,” Karui instructed, glancing back and receiving a confirming nod from the Major.

“We don’t have the energy or weapons for any offensive assault. We need to get out of here before they notice. Follow the smell in the air, whatever seems cleaner,” Omoi added.

Sakura inhaled but couldn’t tell the difference. She looked back and frowned when she noticed how everyone seemed to be watching her, expressions clearly expecting. She grumbled but cleared her mind and tried again. It was too hard to be sure, but she thought she had an idea so she pointed further down the hallway in the opposite way, keeping up the act with every branching of the tunnels.

The more they traveled the more Sakura picked up on the vibrations and less the smell of moving air. There were things happening on the surface. Someone was using a lot of guns, she could feel their crack even if there were miles of stone separating her from the bullets.

**It smelled like war again.**

Gunpowder and blood.

“How many soldiers has the blue city lost here?” Sakura asked once they found an incline in the tunnels. She kept her hand on the wall as they followed it up.

“Enough,” Samui curly replied.

Sakura stopped short and turned. “There is another war out there, between the living and the dead, and it did not develop over the course of a mere week. How many?”

Sami only had one good eye left, but it glared with enough venom for two. Sakura didn’t flinch and she didn’t make a move to unblock their path. Finally Samui relented.“ _Enough_. Ever since the heathen’s holiday it’s been growing steadily worse. Before our group, thirty five men went missing. Only six were officially reported. The rest were dispatched covertly”

Omoi inhaled sharply but Karui didn’t appear surprised.

“And my role?” Sakura inquired.

“You were supposed to be the thing that shook this all loose. You’re the same as these people, seeing things and believing things that can’t be proven. You did wonderful by the way, only failing to leave your superiors out of it.”

When Samui said ’superiors’ Sakura got the impression that she meant more Karui and Omoi, who were of princely blood, and less herself.

“This way,” Sakura said, ducking her head and turning.

Before long they were in another burial chamber, but it was one Sakura didn’t recognize. It was another chamber that stretched out under the twisted face mountain. They raced past bodies wrapped in blankets above ground, skeletons in armor, and stone pillars.

Sakura saw something that made her stop and start digging. Karui complained but the others paused as well to watch as Sakura searched through the dead army’s things. A minute later she held up a dead man’s sword and pulled it open. Unlike the others, it slid free from the scabbard with only mild tarnish making it catch and drag. The others had been too rusted to pull free.

“What do you need that relic for? It’ll be useless out there,” Karui complained. They were close enough to the surface that even Omoi could hear the guns of war.

Sakura tested the weight and swung, missing her rifle. “Not on the dead. Bullets go right through them. You need to cut them down.”

“Should we…?” Omoi looked sideways at Samui but Karui was already in the dead men’s bones, looking for a weapon of her own. She came away with a pair of single sided hand axes. She nodded to Omoi with a look that promised protection.

When they set off again it was easy to tell what was the correct direction based off the sounds and sound alone. Sakura recognized the ring and rip of bullets cutting through air far too well, and it made her blood burn. She surged far ahead of the rest of them and was almost destroyed by the onslaught of light.

It was too bright it put her on her knees, but moments later her eyes adjusted enough for the overcast skies. Her face was wet with tears, but she heaved her sword up to rest on her shoulder and glanced about. They were on a ledge of the mountain not far from the ground. When she moved to the side the battle and the blood came into full detail.

“Oh,” Karui gasped as she saw it too.

Omoi dragged Samui up and the Major cursed at the sight.

There were enough bodies on the ground to make piles worth climbing over and most of them were wearing blue. Their guns hadn’t done them much good.

“ _No_ , we just won a war,” Karui whispered to herself as more and more of the color drained from her face. She was tallying the body count for her people. “It’s not fair.”

“The world doesn’t belong to civilized men anymore, princess,” Sakura said, not needing to look back to know Karui heard her. “It’s growing wild and wicked once more and this is just the beginning.”

“How do we stop it?” Omoi asked.

Sakura almost recoiled at the question because there was no such thing. Nature was turning, the wheel of the world was spinning in a new direction and that’s just the way it was. The stories were alive and there was no stopping them, only surviving.

But then she thought of Painnim, the man who claimed godhood. He had ichor running through his veins, but Sakura saw past all that. She saw the mortal he was deep down. Gods were never so involved in any of the old stories.

 _He_ wasn’t anymore an unstoppable force than _she_ was.

“We get somewhere safe first,” Karui interrupted. “We’re not in the best state for fighting like this.”

Omoi grunted but nodded in agreement, then both staff captains looked to her.

“Down this mountain first, stay away from those tents. The refugees have been his worshipers all this time. They’ll turn us in if we’re caught.”

Sakura pulled up a shred of what was left of her shirt and tried to cover her nose and mouth, but it was a useless effort. Nothing she had could block out the smell. It was war again, all over but if they could get into the city…

 _Movement_  

Sakura flipped the sword off her shoulder and had it out of its sheathe in a single fluid move. The blade caught filtered sunlight and reflected it back into Yahiko’s face. His silver eyes squinted and blinked, but behind him Konan offered up two palms, turned up in the sign of surrender.

“Your quarrel isn’t with us if you want a way back,” she pleaded. “Please, listen to us.”

“Why should we? You were there, you fed the fake god bodies to destroy in his search of others worthy of his silver eyes,” Karui hissed, spinning one hand ax out.

“That’s true, but we’ve done worse I’m sure. Please, Sakura, you’ll only lead them further into trouble if you don’t listen to Yahiko and I,” said Konan. She swallowed when she saw the hardness in Sakura’s eyes, but Yahiko grabbed her hand and that seemed to give her the courage to try again. “Your friends came for you. We’ll lead you to them.”

“Not a chance,” Karui drawled. “I recognize those eyes of yours.”

“I’m not like him, or-or ay of the others! I’m not with Pein right now.”

Karui shifted with hesitation and Sakura picked up on it. “What do you mean, Yahiko? Pein?”

The boy nodded once. “What his mother named him before he became like that. We grew up as refugees in this place together, I knew him from before.”

Sakura almost remembered a dream of a boy drinking silver liquid and nearly dying from it until it gave him what he wanted; the power to crush his enemies and make high those brought low by his adversaries. _The soldiers in blue coats are the enemy and he will never bow for them!_  

Sakura glared at the silver staining her fingers in spider thin veins. “I think I know what happened to him. He thinks himself a god but he’s only a man with the ambition of a titian.” Sakura met Konan’s eyes. “He’s the heart of all this magic, isn’t he?”

“Not all of it. The ghosts and the wraiths have been there since the caves first appeared,” Konan admitted. “But yes, he orchestrated the rest.”

“Then we cut the head off the **snake**.” Karui turned to Sakura and grinned like she told a joke. “You’re good at that, aren’t you?”

She might have forgotten at some point along the way, but Karui had reminded her that she was staff captain with a future on the throne, and all the knowledge any prince or princess was expected to be weighed down with. Her eyes sparkled with military cunning and Sakura remembered what it felt like to work under such a person. It felt like safety.

“We still need to get out of here safely,” Omoi interrupted, struggling to hoist Samui back up onto his shoulder as her strength waned. “The Major needs treatment soon.”

“There’s a literal war going on out there,” Karui grumbled before cursing and spitting. She fixed a look on Konan, shouldering Sakura aside. “Still don’t trust you, but I need to get her somewhere safe and inform the men to withdraw. Get us through the fighting.”

Sakura couldn’t help but duck her head and smile. There wasn’t a lot more she could add that could improve Karui’s unique delivery.

Konan reached behind her for Yahiko and tugged him along, pausing once to glance back and wave the rest of them down the mountain path. The group followed at a lesser speed with Sakura pushing her way to the near front to brandish her sword where there was room enough to swing it.

They hugged the twisted face of the mountain down to its base and dashed across a gap of open woodland before the trees gave them cover. The tents were far behind them now, but if the kept going in their present direction the town walls would be on their left and the marching army of blue coats would be on their right. Dead ahead was the army of the slain.

Konan stopped and turned to face them once more. “Veer right for your friends, but if you divert left, you might be able to sneak into the town behind the corpses. That’s where Pein went. The temple in the town center is where you’ll find him.”

“Allies first,” Karui grumbled, turning and heading off to the right. Sakura stayed standing in her spot while the others moved around her, holding Konan’s stare. When Karui noticed this she paused to turn back. “Sakura, aren’t you coming? They’re your friends first.”

The memory of Yugito’s angry screams and Choji’s worried eyes that watched her fall came flashing back. Sakura swallowed and turned away from the trail that would lead her to Pein.

“Coming.”

Karui turned back with Omoi and shouldered Samui’s other side as she hobbled along together. Sakura gravitated to the front, taking point on watch. The trees were thicker, making it easier to sneak by as well as be sprung upon. They hadn’t gone very far before Sakura saw the first shambling body up ahead.

It wasn’t a rifle, she swung sloppy but in a strong arch through its chest. The body fell apart, still moving but unless. Someone grunted with effort behind her and then she heard more bones hit together. She looked back and grinned to see Karui looking vicious.

“Let them come,” she snarled.

They made themselves a wedge that cut into what was left of the dead stragglers. It was such an odd thing, to swing a sword like their grandfathers might have had to generations ago, but Sakura fell back into it like an old instinct.

The weight didn’t matter as she caught another blade with hers and then shoved it back. She speared the body and then dragged her bald up, popping the ribcage in half and sending the shattered bits of spine and skull flying.

“Hold fire!” Someone shouted up ahead and Karui cheered. There were men and women in blue coats. Sakura almost raised her sword again but remembered how they were the allies now.

“It’s the Major. Get them up here!”

Orders were shouted and more coats swarmed to support them as they climbed up the last bit of the ridge to a make-shift tent city. It was just like the war all over again, only this time Sakura was on the other side.

Karui was surging forward, shouting to someone about Konan and Yahiko being important informants they needed to feed. Omoi went off with the Major into a medical tent and Sakura grew roots where she was.

All around her the world moved.

“Sakura?”

She turned and Choji was there. There was dirt on his face and he looked a bit more haggard, but when he smiled nothing else mattered. He ran for her and grabbed her up into his arms, never minding how stiff she was.

“You’re okay! They got to you in time!” He set her down and then hunched to better look her over. “Oh, they-they hurt you!”

Sakura blinked, looking at her bruises and feeling confused before she remembered they were supposed to hurt. “Ah, I guess they did.” She blinked again and then looked up. “But I’m really just hungry.”

Choji was watching her and the cold made his face red, but he smiled a softer sort of smile before tugging her along by the hands. She remembered her dream of his warm kiss and it made her face flush.

“I can do something about that,” he said. “Come, the others will be back soon.”

She dragged the sword before remembering it was in her hand, then heaved it up onto her shoulder. Choji laughed at the sight and called her a knight.

“If it works, why not?”

Choji led her to a tent that smelled like warm bread. “I was worried we wouldn’t get to you in time. We had tried to make a move before the army showed up, but it-it all went to hell real fast. He knew we were coming and there were traps in the streets.”

They entered the tent and Sakura counted two beds and a table. There was food on the table that made it look like she had just interrupted his eating. Her mouth salivated at the sight and he reached to put cinnamon bread into her hands. She cried as she ate.

Choji watched her and some of the softness fell off his face. He almost looked in pain and it made her stop, hungry as she was.

“What is it?”

“He starved you.”

Sakura considered it and then nodded. “I suppose so. He _was_ trying to break me.”

“He was born out of famine and madness but that’s what he sows. You would think-you would want to think he’d be more compassionate than that.” He shook his head. “Starving is inhuman.” 

“Cruelty is terrible, but terrible things are the trademarks of humans.”

“I’m sorry.”

She took a bite small enough to talk around. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for. Don’t apologize.”

“We didn’t rescue you sooner!" His voice cracked with emotion. "I couldn’t find you, even though we tried. We went back to the tombs, to the mountain, and-and you were close by somewhere, just always hidden. Even as desperate as we were, it didn’t change a thing. No matter how much I wanted I-No. No, I... Sorry we didn’t save you sooner.”

His words almost made her laugh. “It’s not your job to save me.” It was a war cat's duty to salvage fallen comrades, but duty didn’t bind the new additions to the blue city like it bound the older families.

Choji caught her eye and she almost faltered at the intensity there. “Jobs have nothing to do with it. You’re not just a comrade. You’re important and worth saving. I wouldn’t ever leave you behind, no matter what my directives were.”

Sakura took another bite and swallowed what she could down before speaking again. Her throat felt suddenly dry. “Thank you Choji.” Her words seemed inadequate so she hurried to add, “I’m glad fate had us cross paths. I’ve been made better for having known you.”

“Me too,” he whispered, ducking his head to hide the blush and smile.

Choji was content to sit back and let her sate her appetite in silence, always offering her more when she paused. When she commented on how too much food might make her sick he laughed, not unkindly, and claimed she was too strong for that, saying he had never met a stronger women.

His words made her blush.

“I might have dreamed of you when I was locked up.”

Choji looked up, startled into a darker shade of red and Sakura suddenly felt too hot in her rags as she sputtered to explain herself.

“It-it was likely a fever dream or something and it-it wasn’t ah-uh, no, never mind me. Sorry I mentioned it.”

“You _saw_ me?”

Sakura paused, glancing up again. Something about his tone made her think there was more meaning to his words. “I’m sure it was just a dream.”

“No, you-you shouldn’t have been able to see, but I did project my spirit in an attempt to find your location. I was invisible to the rest of the world except those with a lot of magic I guess. That guy claiming to be a god said he could see me and then he set his wraiths on me. I can still feel where they hit me.”

Sakura felt her eyes widen. “You can do that?”

“It’s a family secret. Don’t tell anyone else.”

“That’s real dangerous magic, Choji! It’s super risky. If something happened to your body it could have been really bad for you. Plus the strain on your spirit-oh, are you okay?”

Her eyes strained and she reached out to touch his shoulder, where something had struck his spirit. She could see the wound on his soul that didn’t show up as even a shadow on his skin. His arm flinched and she drew back too quickly, as if burned.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“No, it’s fine,” he laughed nervously, reaching out to touch the invisible wound. “I guess you could see it. It felt funny when you touched it, but-but it didn’t hurt!”

“You’re fortunate it’s not worse than it is. That could have been really bad.”

“It was worth it. We were able to learn a good deal and I-I don’t mind. I did so little during our war, but this time I think I was able to contribute something at least.”

“Wars aren’t measured in wounds.”

“Sometimes they should be.”

Sakura laughed.

After she had some more to drink Choji explained to her as much as he could what had happened since their separation as well as their plans for what they would do next.

With an actual army, it had turned into a siege, and they were hoping to end it soon before the people inside the walls of the city suffered any more than they already had.

There were tentative plans to try and find the head of the whole rebellion and decapitate him to end it all quickly. It was standard text book battle strategy, and one Sakura had been thinking up on her own, but as good as the plan was, it was still useless if they couldn’t execute it.

Sakura told Choji about the temple in the town center where she heard Pein was hiding and then mentioned a secret way in, thanks to Konan and Yahiko.

“But can they be trusted?”

“I _want_ to trust them. They have even less appetite for war than us, but started all this because they wanted something for their people. Right now, it looks like their man-god Pein wants conquest. If I can get in there, I’ll end this.”

He glanced at her arm and then her neck where silver peeked through, staining her skin. “You’ll be okay.”

She grimaced. “Of course. I want my rifle, but I should be okay with something standard issued. I don’t need to get close enough to be noticed, just close enough to shoot.”

“We might actually be able to help you with that!” Choji exclaimed, straightening up before rushing to the bed opposite his and reaching underneath to pull out something wrapped in bed cloth. When he pulled it back Sakura’s heart stopped for the sight of her beautiful rifle, markings and all.

“My rifle!” She breathed while taking it. “But wh-how did you get it after I fell?”

“Yugito recovered it when we went back to look for you. She was the one who saved it and held onto it all this time. You’ll have to thank her when she comes back.”

His words sounded funny to her, so Sakura glanced up to see what the opposite side of Choji’s room looked like, and she recognized the crisp make of the bed that all Niebieski soldiers knew how to do. A woman’s boots were placed at the foot of the bed and when Sakura lifted the cloth around her rifle up to smell, she smelled Yugito.

Sakura didn’t want to understand why, but she felt her heart turn over unhappily at the realization that she was in a space her two friends shared together. It likely meant nothing more than that, but the idea of Yugito and Choji together made her feel excluded-which was silly! Of course she would be excluded. She hadn’t been with them since their separation. She was silly for feeling anything odd at all.

“You were…tent mates with Yugito? Oh. I thought Shikamaru might have been here.”

“Shikamaru has a tent with the other strategists. But Yugito should be back soon. Once she hears you’re back I’m sure she’ll make a bee line here.”

Sakura nodded, crossing the room to sit on the edge of Yugito’s bed, somehow more familiar with it than Choji’s. He sat down opposite her and rubbed his hands down the fabric of his pants over his thighs. He almost looked nervous.

Sakura set the rifle over her lap and brushed her fingers across the wood carvings of horses and roosters and magic eggs that hid whole worlds inside of them. They all seemed so old after so little time apart. “I guess I’ve been gone longer than I thought. Days are weird when you can’t see the sun.”

“She missed you a ton.” Choji’s words came out in a rush but then he caught himself and slowed down the ret of his words. “She was sort of terrible about it, actually, but I could empathize with her so I didn’t mind as much as some of the others.”

“She’s weirdly devoted,” Sakura chuckled. “I don’t understand it so much myself either, but I don’t hate it as much anymore. Though, if she wanted to I wouldn’t stand in the way of her leaving or-or doing anything else she wanted!”

“Of-of course.” Choji nodded stiffly. “I’m sure.”

“It-it’s not like I asked her to follow me like that. It’s just her weird decision. She can change her mind whenever she wants to.”

Choji’s smile softened his already gentle face. “I’m sure she would if that’s what she wanted, but you know that’s not what she’s after, don’t you?”

Sakura shrugged, turning red. “I wouldn’t know the mind of another.”

“You couldn’t tell, could you?” Choji laughed. “I suppose that puts me at ease then, or maybe I should be worried for myself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sakura asked, feeling uniquely confused.

“Oh, it’s a rare thing to catch you without Yugito to interrupt so I suppose I should tell you I’ve admired you since I first laid eyes on you back at the beginning of this adventure.” His face colored but he didn’t fluster through his words like Sakura would have if she turned that color. He was embarrassed about something or maybe he wasn’t….

“T-thank you. I’ve worked hard to get here I suppose,” Sakura stuttered. Plenty of people admired war heroes.

“I like you.”

“That’s awfully kind of you-”

“No, Sakura,” Choji interrupted her, laughing in exasperation as he knelt down on the floor in front of her, still an arm’s length away and too far to touch. “No, not like that, not as a war hero.”

He watched her and waited as her skin went from pale to pink to something dark enough to be dangerous. She knew she was an ugly blusher. She hated how it made her itch, but when he watched her with eyes that didn’t waver it felt like her whole body was a rash she couldn’t slip out of. It was the way she had wished Kiba would have looked at her years ago, the way boys looked at Shizune but never Sakura.

Her hands shook so much she had to grab her rifle and squeeze at the barrel to make them steady. Her voice was a whisper of a squeak as she managed a single ‘why?’ in response.

There was still color on his face, but he didn’t waver. It was so unlike him, when in comparison Sakura was used to being the steady one. He didn’t reach her, but he was big enough, even kneeling, that when he bent his head in her direction the shadow fed by lamp light touched her toes.

“Your kindness, your nobility, your magic…when you looked at me I felt like I was real in a way I never had been before, like all the silly stories in my family weren’t so silly anymore. You saw all of me honestly and without blame or judgment. And you were always kind to me even if I’m not the most fit solider in uniform, or a-or some chiseled handsome youth. That didn’t matter to you.”

Choji dropped his eyes and tried to bite his lip to keep his smile from wavering. When he snapped his head back up his eyes were wide with some new worry.

“I don’t want you to think I’m asking for anything though! I-I just wanted to say my peace and have it known. It was only fair.”

“Thank you,” Sakura whispered, too uncomfortable to understand what was appropriate for the situation.

She had never been confessed to or admired as a woman. People only valued her skill or her status as a war hero from the enemy side, but Choji saw her in a way that rendered her speechless. She felt like a girl all over again.

Choji opened his mouth to say something more but the tent’s flap swung back noisily and Yugito dashed in, eyes dead set on Sakura. It was the perfect distraction and Sakura stood with a smile to greet the other woman but Yugito smacked the outstretched hand away and fell onto Sakura with all her weight. The pair of them fell backwards onto the cot.

“Yu-gito!” Sakura grunted. The rifle poked her as it was sandwiched between their bodies. “I’m fine, I’m sorry, but I’m back safe and sound okay. Yugito?”

The blond puled back and her face was something like polished perfection, smooth and soft and unwrinkled as she inhaled a deeper breath and set her dark eyes back on Sakura’s face. There was soft fury in her look. Sakura tried to call her friend’s name again but Yugito smacked Sakura’s shoulder.

“You imbecile!” she growled, eyes brightening as the fury rolled free in each of her words. “You utter- complete -simple- sheep brained idiot! You fell into a hole!”

“I promise you I didn’t mean to,” Sakura grunted. She had to reach up and grab Yugito’s wrists before she could get smacked again. “And I’ve been beat up enough these past few days so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t kill me.”

Yugito swallowed and then leaned back, allowing Sakura to sit up even though Yugito didn’t move any more than that, forcing Sakura to scoot back on the bed or be straddled by her friend. She saw some of the bruises and Yugito’s anger deflated like a flame under the wind, flaring back up strong than before.

“They’re moving a small group out tonight, it’s your group, isn’t it?” Yugito asked.

“Likely. I was planning on doing just that, but I hadn’t told anyone yet.” Sakura rubbed the sore of her shoulder and pouted at Yugito who looked completely unsympathetic.

“The refugees that flipped were taking about it. If you’re going I’m coming with you. I’ll not be parted from your side again.”

“Maybe for a couple of hours you can manage as much. She’s exhausted and will need her rest if we’re going in there at nightfall,” Choji interjected.

“How would you know that’s when the plan is for?” Yugito asked.

“It’s a hunch. Am I wrong?”

Yugito’s eyes narrowed. “No.”

Choji nodded, climbing to his feet. “Then I’ll go speak with the men in charge and get the details for myself. If you’re really leaving tonight I’ll be there with you.”

Yugito nodded, watching him go until the tent flap fell back into place behind his back. When he was gone, Yugito reached down to move the rifle off to the side.

“You kept it safe for me, thank you,” Sakura said.

Yugito looked up from under her lashes, expression still as stiff and unreadable as ever. Sakura wondered if that would ever change. Yugito clicked with her teeth and cast her gaze elsewhere. “It was no great effort on my part, and not worth the thanks.”

“Still, thank you. It means a lot to me, and I’m grateful it wasn’t lost.” Sakura ran her hand over the wood once more before saying anything else. “And thank you for worrying about me. I’m sorry I was gone for so long.”

“I’ll kill the bastard myself, so don’t apologize, just tell me you won’t let it happen again.”

“I’ll try not to,” Sakura laughed. “Trust me, I didn’t like it any, and it wasn’t my choice where I went. I’d have come back sooner if I could.”

“He hurt you.” It wasn’t a question so Sakura nodded. Yugito refocus the full force of her gaze on Sakura. “Where? Show me.”

Sakura glanced towards the tent flap and Yugito ran up to tie it shut and then pull down a divider that hung from the middle part of the ceiling inside the tent. Sakura still hesitated, but then began to pull off the layers of her rags. The silver was rampant under her skin, darker and thicker than ever as it branched like webbing from her left finger tips all the way to her throat and chest. Sakura had been able to divert it around her heart, but there was so much of it, it looked like only a matter of time before she was consumed in silver.

“Does it still pain you?”

Sakura shook her head and then pulled on a fresh shirt offered to her. “Not anymore. Sometimes it will sting, but...I can manage it.”

“And you haven’t found a way to purge it from your body?”

“I neither understand nor control this substance, unfortunately. If I saw Tsunade maybe she would be able to tell me how to fix this up, but story keepers aren’t supposed to leave their villages and theres’t little chance of me reaching her back home.”

“A story keeper might know how to heal you?”

“Maybe.”

Yugito cursed and half turned to glare at the tied up tent flap. “There might be someone who you could talk to once we make it back from this mission at midnight.”

“You mean if we make it back,” Sakura corrected.

Yugito glared back at Sakura. “ _When_. I’m not loosing you again.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Sakura chuckled. “You talk like you plan on never leaving my side, but what if you wake up one morning and find out you want something else? Don’t feel like you owe me anything anymore. You’ve done enough, friend.”

Sakura couldn’t help but glance across the room to Choji’s cot and wondered how close the two of them had been before her arrival. Even with Choji’s pretty words, Yugito was a pretty woman and…and…

Yugito’s lip curled as her stance turned firm and full. She drew herself up and settled her hands on her hips, eyes blazing with concentrated fire. “You think I’m still around because I owe you? We squared up long ago, I’m here because-” Her words stopped suddenly and it was like the tent filled with water, the kind that was thick and murky enough to keep their mouths shut. Yugito opened her mouth and then shut it. Sakura glanced back to Choji’s cot and Yugito caught the look.

“Did he tell you?” Yugito whispered.

“Just that he liked me, but I don’t-I-that’s nothing to do with this. If you liked him I wasn’t planning on saying anything else.”

“The shit,” Yugito hissed before glaring again at Sakura. “Why would you think something like that? If I toss a man in my bed I’d still come back to you before the morning. I tolerate the giant better than most, but he’s not someone that could keep me from your side, even if he _is_ sick in love with you. He can get in line, I was here first.”

Sakura couldn’t say anything and something on her face must have been odd because Yugito cursed and reached for Sakura’s hand. Yugito placed it over her heart and when Sakura tried to pull her hand back off of Yugito’s chest the blonde tugged back, glaring.

“It’s yours,” she hissed, sounding angry. “It’s been yours.”

Sakura tried to say something, unwilling to admit it but knowing the truth of Yugito’s words. She could claim she didn’t understand the fanatical devotion of the Niebieski woman, but there was no point to it anymore.

Yugito then dropped Sakura’s wrist and backed up a flush staining her neck red. “I’m going to go find Choji to tell him to sleep elsewhere tonight. You can have my cot, I’ll take his. Rest while you can, we’ll be gone in a few hours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, they are in love. Confession before the eve of battle? Don't mind if I do.


	20. Chapter 20

When dusk fell it smelled even more like death as a soft fog lifted from the earth just as the temperature dipped low enough to shiver for. The dead were still as abundant as ever, with no signs of slowing their advance against the Blue Coats.

There were the four of them plusn two supporting soldiers in black to flank their movements. Sakura, Choji, and Yamato were joined by Konan while Yahiko would be kept behind, (to serve as an incentive for Konan not to switch sides back again). That had been Shikamaru’s suggestion.

Yugito was like a cat in the night, so she took lead with Konan directing and Choji was never more sure of their success in anything before. Yugito was a ghost in her steps, running ten to fifteen feet ahead of them to check the coast before waving them on. Several times they had to sit and wait a while before dead guards in shambling forms passed on, but often times the undead army was too dull to notice anything less than the most obvious.

Choji couldn’t help but marvel at the sight once they were back in the city. There were still signs of life, but not many. The dead roamed the streets past midnight and windows stayed bolted shut. 

A year ago he was at the tail end of a losing war, but he would have never been able to believe or even imagine such a future for himself. He was on the other side of the content in a city of refugees guarded by the dead and ruled by a man-god.

Magic was not as dead as his mother let him believe.

The subtle magics like Sakura’s sight, a fortune teller’s luck, or his own stature could have been ignored if that’s all the world had to offer, but now there were dead armies and red eyed fiends lurking about. With more men dying from monsters from the forest than enemies in white coats, it was hard for the Niebieski city to ignore.

“The temple is just up ahead,” Konan breathed, touching the wall and then kneeling down low to see around it.

Choji watched as Sakura knelt a little further back and saw what the others were looking at no problem, but that was to be expected of a master sniper.

Yugito was ahead enough that she couldn't hear it, but she could read lips and hands well enough.

“Soon,” Choji whispered.

He leveled a heavyiron mace perfect for breaking apart half decomposed bodies. Sakura had her sword on her back next to her rifle, but it hung awkwardly without a sheath. Everyone had some sort of brunt weapon, since bullets were near useless when it came to the resurrected.

“We need to go around, crossing the main courtyard in the open would be-”

“I know!” Yugito hissed back over her shoulder.

She glared backwards once before ducking into shadows and running around the edges of the main streets that emptied into town square proper. The disenfranchised that sometimes slept on the temple steps were all gone, and an odd heat warmed the bricks underneath. The road was warm in spite of the morning rain. 

Konan had warned them that Pein planned something under the main square but hadn’t let any of them close to the site of his operations. Yugito had muttered under her breath how helpful Konan’s intel _wasn't_ but Choji had pretended he hadn’t heard it since the girl was still pissed off at him and the rest of the world at large.

He understood why Yugito had anger in her heart for him, and was surprised how little he cared about that. He hated when people didn’t like him-which was almost all the time-but he didn’t care that Yugito found a reason to curse his name. He didn’t regret confessing to Sakura. It was one of the proudest moments of his life because even if she didn’t see him that way, he had been brave enough to say his truth and speak his peace. He was proud and that was enough.

Choji glanced over his shoulder and scanned the dark shadows for where Sakura crouched. Her sword stood out a bit too much so she hung back more than the others, but never far away enough that she couldn’t dash to their side in a fight.

Looking at her made his heart hurt and he felt braver because of it. Not reckless, just brave.

Her eyes found his in the darkness and he had to look away before she saw any more of the ugly blush on his face. He'd allow himself to gawk later, for now, they had a job to do. 

There were secret ways into the temple cut into the walls of nearby buildings that Konan pointed out to them. Yugito found them safe and slipped in first before the rest of them filed in. There were dark stairs wet with mist until a landing leveled off and made the rest of the way dry under the streets.

“If you don’t know what he was working on here how do you know he’s going to be here?” Choji whispered to Konan when they were close enough.

The blue haired woman shared a look with Sakura further back before glancing Choji’s way. “It’s for that very reason. He’s not anywhere else. With the Niebieski arm showing up the way it did, it was too early for his plans and he pulled back not long after the fighting started. He’s not a god, just a man playing with powers he doesn’t understand.” 

Before long the platform started to grow and up ahead the signs of an opening appeared. It split off into more stairs down and more walkways to the upper chambers that looked over the torchlit antechamber. There were soft flames casting light over a number of silver marked men and woman who gathered around a pool of silver liquid.

At the head of the pool Pein stood.

Sakura broke off to the high places with her rifle to snipe and the rest of the group moved down. There were several undead that would be impervious to bullets. Choji didn’t like having to split, and wish he could have justified staying beside her, but he was a poor shot and too good at brutalizing things with a blunt weapon.

From the shadows they could see the figures around Pein all seemed to share some features with him, such as the auburn colored hair and silver eyes. Jutting out of the pool were stone slabs that made the room look crude, but each Pein copy stood among them staring into the pool. Pein was standing over the very edge looking winded.

“It drains him to resurrect things, and whatever is down here has taken him a long time to try and resurrect,” Konan whispered.

“Not good,” Choji echoed.

“Sakura can hit him,” Yugito hissed.

“Will one hit be enough?” Konan asked, staring up into the shadows of the high walled cavern where Sakura would take her cover. Once her shot rang out the rest of the group would surge in on the rest of the cultists.

Choji knew she’d be able to do it. The didn’t call her the serpent slayer for nothing.

He watched Pein at the head of the group, raise his arms again and something about the motion disturbed the waters. His eyes were wide and straining as sweat fell off his face. There was chanting too.

Old and hymn like, it echoed in on itself like a serpent biting its own tail, becoming a never ending, never changing cycle of sound with lyrics Choji couldn't understand. Still, somehow he felt like he knew the meaning of their old words.

_'Turn, lowly one. You soon will be hearing the chime, the sound, and the song, of your history's grandfather. Herald it. Turn your face to it and speak this story on the wheel of a conflux's fate.'_

The silver surface rippled and Pein lifted his hands once more, holding them high as the cultists around him chanted louder the same cursed verse. 

Choji watched as something froze Pein in place and followed the man’s stare up into the darkness. It was too dark to see Sakura there, but the way Pein looked was almost-

A shot cracked in the darkness and Pein was knocked backwards, off his feet and onto the stone floor where his head spilled blood.

-Rapturous.

Choji didn’t have time to contemplate the dead man’s fate as another figure fell to a second shot and then a third. Yugito was already surging out into the opening along with the two other soldiers, but Sakura was a quick shot and before the blonde could even make contact, Sakura had shot each one through the eye. Yugito still cut down the woman in front of her, screaming as her long knife tore open a hole in her face.

Choji felt empty as he stood in the room among the dead, their warm blood staining the undersides of his boots. There was nothing left for him. He moved to stand where Pein once stood and then turned back up to look for where Sakura hid herself. He knew where to look so he found her after only a moment, but when he blinked he had to search for her again, like she was a piece of the darkness. She was still crouched and set in her position like all good snipers were when waiting for something to come into their sights.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” Yugito asked, turning around and shaking the blood off her blade.

Konan stood over Pein’s body, eyes glazed over and face pale. She inhaled sharply and forced her head to nod. “That’s all there was to it. That-yeah.” She sounded lost.

“Were you close?” Choji asked in a whisper, moving to stand beside her.

Konan shook her head. “I just knew him enough to understand how we were the same.”

“The same?”

Konan nodded again. “Both of us broken kids, immigrants and refugees the city didn’t want to deal with. I didn’t need to know more than that to know he would be someone I could understand and follow. I know now that he was wrong, but…that doesn’t make what Niebieski did to us right. Now there really is no hope for us.”

She shut her eyes and lifted her face, like the dead body with his brains blown out was suddenly too much to look at. Choji just saw a body, but Konan saw the person she had listened to, followed, and admired.

He touched her shoulder and pat it twice before moving back, wanting to give her space. He pretended he didn’t see the tears on her face, or the way she tried to wipe them back into her skin.

“Is it supposed to be this hot down here?” one of the two soldiers asked. Choji looked his way and remembered his name started with a K but couldn’t place the rest of the letters in order enough to call out his name.

The other solider was kneeling on the ground, looking into the silver pool, dropping rocks into the ripples surface.

“It doesn’t matter. We did what we needed to, let’s turn back and-”

A shock under the ground made Yugito swallowed the rest of her words as she pitched forward onto her knees, landing with a yelp of pain. The other guard fell back too and the one bending over the pool slipped forward, crying out before the rest of his body slipped under the silver. Choji cried out, having held his balance better, but another rock forced him down too.

Up in the high places Sakura stayed crouched, watching the silver surface and seeing something Choji couldn’t.

“Get away from the pool!” he screamed.

But it was a fruitless warning became the silver broke as the guard’s broken body came surging upwards, barely held together as the head and torso had been bitten through. Following the blood and mutilation the carved head of a red serpent slid upwards, pulling thin arms apart from his body.

"What the fu-"

_BANG!_

Sakura fired and the creature hissed, blinking its silver eyes and bleeding from the shot, it's blood was a color darker than black. Sakura fired again and it twisted away from where it had been hit, another wound on his head leaking midnight ichor.

The cavern was tall enough for a dozen houses to stand side by side, and tall enough for at least four of them to stack atop each other, but the scarlet beast swelled into the room, eating up its empty space.It roared and the room shook as its arms stretched out, pulling away from some of the translucent membrane that still stuck to its body. It was long, but thicker than Choji first thought.

His thoughts scattered as he grabbed Konan and rolled her out of the way to avoid the sweep of a barbed tail. Yugito rolled out of range just in time but the last guard caught the brunt of it and was thrown into the wall.

Choji remembered his name, ~~_Korine_~~ , but wished he hadn’t.

"It's a damn dragon," Yugito angrily snarled. "I don't believe it."

"We can learn to pray later, now we fight," Choji panted.

Sakura fired again and again, each shot hitting somewhere tender and causing bleeding. The dragon was thick with scales down its back and around the crown of its head, but around his eyes, and in certain patches of less resistance, Sakura found places to sink her bullets until she was out.

The dragon screeched and clawed up the walls, his wings still malformed in twin sacks along its back. Trails of silver liquid rolled off him, but in places Choji could see where it had started to seep into its arms and legs, the way Sakura’s silver scars did.

“Don’t let it dig its way out!” Konan screamed, desperate. “No one can control it now, it’ll wreck everything!”

“We’re trying!” Yugito snapped back, grabbing for her pistol and shooting wild. Her accuracy wasn’t terrible, but the pistols weren’t reliable and most of her shots deflated off of reinforced scales. 

With its claws buried deep into the walls, the dragon clung close to the ceiling and began to bite at the rock, digging his way upwards. It screamed and tried to blow what seemed like fire, but all it could cough out was smoke. It was still too young to be so destructive, or maybe it just needed more time.

Choji fired with his own pistol, and Konan grabbed what had been discarded from the dead guard to try shooting as well, but none of their bullets sank or hit like Sakura’s, and even her hits weren’t enough to bring it down.

Choji didn’t know what they were going to do, even as Konan asked that same question out loud to them.

Sakura needed less than five seconds to reload a full cartridge, but Choji could tell she had already done so twice. He doubted she had much more ammunition on her. She never missed, so it would be silly to carry in bulk. She was the only one doing any damage and she wasn’t doing enough!

If Shikamaru were with them he would be able to think something up.

Sakura shot it several more times and Choji watched as its eye burst, spattering the whole side of its face in black and silver ichor that sent it screaming down the side of the cavern where it writhed on the ground. It thrashed its head back and forth, trying to shake off the pain but only more blood flowed.

“It’s closer now!” Yugito screamed. Instead of running away, she dashed forward, gun stretched out in front of her. When she fired she was able to hit the part of its face closest to the eye.

The dragon screamed something guttural and curled its head down under it’s arms, rolling itself up. The red tail swung frantically back and forth, sweeping for something to push away.

“Press the advantage,” Sakura screamed from up high, leaning over to see.

At the sound of her voice the dragon uncurled and snapped into a hunch that it then sprang up from, leaping for the wall and then crawling along it, slipping only once, to chase after her voice. Choji heard her curse and run as the gigantic maw open to bite her body in two like the first solider that fell into its pool. His heart felt caught between two knives as he watched Sakura run back into the darkness just out of reach of the dragon’s teeth.

Yugito screamed for Sakura and Choji had never heard the girl’s voice sound so raw.

Something else roared and then the dragon jerked back, a gigantic wolf in ragged fur clung to its face, clawing wildly at what it could while the dragon thrashed some more, trying to dislodge the harried wolf.

“Where did it come from?” Konan asked, raising her gun again but only to watch.

“It’s Sakura’s!” Yugito breathed. “It was on her rifle. It’s something she can do.”

Choji remembered the tree spirit Sakura called Zetsu, a Leshy from the forest she called out of her gun for only the briefest of moments.

The wolf was larger than a horse, but it was only big enough to barely fit on the dragon’s head before it was thrown off onto a wall, where it landed on its feet and sprang back to gnaw at the scales under its ear holes. It looked like, in spite of its size, the Mad Wolf would be able to do what they couldn’t.

The dragon screeched and then slammed its own head into the wall, again and again, pinning the Mad Wolf between skull and stone once-twice, and on the third time the wolf broke apart into what looked like snow, leaving the dragon to slam its own head into the wall.

Choji saw Sakura slumped onto her hands and knees, breathing deep with the rifle between her fingers. The dragon turned to face her and this time she was too tired to move, let alone fight back with weak magic from the icons on her gun.

Choji felt a pill in the palm of his hand, but couldn’t remember what color it was or how he got it there, but he knew what it was and what it would do. Yugito was at his side, but her gun had jammed and she was reaching for her knife, knowing it wouldn’t do any good. His hand on her wrist stopped her.

“Catch her if she falls,” Choji warned, crushing the pill between his teeth and throwing aside his gun to run at the dragon. 

Hundred of years ago, and generations before generations, magic had ran with his family too, and now he had need of it.

He surged up into the empty space, doubling and then tripling in size as his muscles bulged and he ran on legs like tree trunks, suddenly large enough to reach for the dragon with his own bare hands. He din’t mind the fact that he was suddenly in scraps and shreds of what he once wore, but screamed something terrifying as he grappled the dragon like the house-hands would grapple a calf to brand it.

It was large and powerful, but newborn and soft in places, like the sacks on its back where wings were still budding. And now, thanks to his family's secret recipe and a bloodline from giants, he was more massive than any man.

Choji got his arms under its neck and choked it with his muscles, moving the body between his legs to pin down and keep the trashing to a minimum.

“Keep it there,” Yugito yelled, fearless as starlight as she ran with her blonde hair steaming free behind her.

She had twin knives out in front of her and stepped onto the end of its tail like a stairway, running up its back until she was between the wing sacks. She cut them open and membrane popped in chunks as hollow bone extended with something thin spreading between the joints. The skin around the wings was weak and that’s where Yugito stabbed.

It thrashed and she started to fall, but she dug her knife into thick hide and cut a path down its chest from over the shoulder. It clawed for her, screeching louder when her blade ran over the breast and she made an effort to slash deeper there, hearing a heartbeat beneath all the layers, but her luck ran dry. Her knives lost their purchase and she started to fall. Choji let go with one arm to catch her and hold her close, reacting with a new flavor of fear that normally only existed for family and closest friends. He pinned her safely to his chest before the dragon turned and took a bite out of his shoulder.

Choji screamed from the pain and kicked as he fell, driving his heel into its chest where one of Yugito’s knives still stuck. The knife fell free along with a scab of flesh, showing off translucent membrane beneath.

When Choji hit the ground the whole cavern shook and some of the stones the dragon had been clawing at to tear away fell free. A crack of starlight peeked through. 

“An opening,” Konan screamed in real fear. “No, don’t let it.”

Choji rolled onto his side and slid Yugito across the floor, praying she would stay safe the moment she left his hand. He was bleeding and tired and knew once he returned to his normal size he would need to sleep for days, but…

When he scanned the high points for her he couldn’t find Sakura anymore.

More and more of the ceiling fell away and he could start to make out the roofs of houses against a still dark sky. Dawn wasn’t far off.

He climbed to his feet with some effort and reached for the dragon's tail, dragging it back down and smacking its body against the floor just as more stones fell free, some of them hitting it in the face.

“Come here you ugly son of a-”

Choji laced his fingers into a single pounding fist and brought it down on the dragon’s head. It clawed at his chest and Choji faltered, but kicked at its side, sending it rolling back towards the pool. It slipped back into the silver waters and only the parts of it that bled hissed out in reaction. It screamed and scampered free of the silver, but Choji could see veins of the color spreading under its scales.

He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

It clawed up the walls again, wings pinned to its back and made another break for the hole in the ceiling but Choji slammed a sharp rock into its face and sent the dragon back down, missing the pool this time. He knew where Yugito and Konan were and moved around so he was between it and them. He looked again, quickly, for Sakura but couldn’t find her. It was dark and maybe she ran free. Maybe-

The tail hit him across the chest again and he stumbled dangerously. He caught himself on the wall but couldn’t block against the bite that returned to his bleeding shoulder. Someone was screaming his name, but the dragon bit harder and he couldn’t stop it. His punch went wide and grazed off hardened scales before the dragon’s head thrashed and tossed him aside, dangerously close to the pool.

It didn’t chase after him to finish Choji off, but instead ran up the walls, already familiar with where its claws needed to find purchase. It leapt into the ledge where Sakura had been and then turned to launch itself up out through the opening in the ceiling.

Konan screamed something desperate sounding as most of the ceiling fell free, tumbling down into the pool and around Choji.

They watched it free itself from the ruble and mount the temple’s front, perched on the edge. When it spread its wings, long and wide, they were each twice as long as it’s body and no longer as see through as they once had been. It screeched, blowing smoke as it flapped its wings. The dust it kicked up was enough to start a new storm. House lights were turning on and women were screaming from their windows at the sight it cut against the sky.

It beat its wings and leapt, catching some weak breeze and climbing slowly. 

And as bad as that was, it still got worse when Choji saw what it had in it's claws.

"Choji!" Yugito wailed.

"I see her!"

Sakura’s silver rifle caught the moonlight and leveled from where she was caught in its claws. She was dripping blood over its hand but she aimed and fired one last time.

The shot shattered the night as it ripped straight through the opening Yugito and Choji had helped tear open above its heart. Sakura’s bullet tore through its chest and outit’s back, winking into the night.

Choji’s heartbeat was the only thing he could hear as he watched it happen.

Sound didn’t exist.

The dragon peaked in the sky, pointed heavenward, and then it turned slightly, rolling into its limp wings and crashing back down to earth, crumbling the temple under its dead weight.

The men and women of the town all scattered into the street, fleeing into the night in spite of their earlier fears. Dead soldiers no longer patrolled the roads, and were easily trampled underfoot.

More of the ceiling fell away and Yugito raced for what was left of the rubble, grappling for a way up while Choji made the transition in a handful of climbs.

The cold of the night made his hot skin hiss in contrast. He felt himself shrink little by little as he ran alongside Yugito to where the body and the rubble still send out clouds of dust.

The blonde was faster and she scaled the debris like a cat, screaming for Sakura again and again.

“Here!” Choji called to her, seeing something metal in the rubble. It was one half of her snapped rifle.

The reached it together and he pulled away the rocks to find the dragon’s claw, still protectively wrapped around its once precious prey. Sakura was pierced and bleeding, but the rubble hadn’t crushed her and the fall hadn’t taken her either.

She blinked when Choji opened the dragon’s hand. Her eyes were bleary as she saw the two of them. Blood leaked from her lip and her sides but she smiled and Choji felt his heart break all over again at the sight of her alive. Suddenly his knees couldn’t keep him up anymore. 

“That was a bit more than I signed up for,” Sakura groaned, watching the pair of them.

Yugito collapsed beside Sakura, too tired and hoarse from screaming. “You said you wouldn’t go where I couldn’t follow you,” she whispered.

“I don’t remember promising anything,” Sakura grunted, trying to sit up and wincing. “Only that I’d try.”

Yugito gasped on the edge of a sob as tears ran down her face. “Try harder next time, you idiot!”

Sakura tried again to stand, moving her legs round, but she ended up falling back into the wide paw, gasping in exhaustion. Choji saw more blood leak out of her.

“Sakura,” he called, finding the strength to get up and approach her side. He touched her shirt and found the puncture wound. When he pulled the fabric away there was bright silver that seeped from her wound.

“Is it bad?” she asked, unable to lift her head.

“It’s…” he swallowed and then leaned over so she could see his face once she opened her eyes again. “It’s going to be fine. Just don’t go to sleep on me, okay. I’m going to bandage you up now, alright. Yugito, get me something to use.

She ran off and came back with the cloaks that looked a bit too much like the ones the cultists were wearing. She dropped one over Choji to cover his nakedness and then helped him rip the other one up for bandages.

“That’s not going to stop the ichor from spreading.”

Both Yugito and Choji turned at the sound ofmChiyo voice. The old woman was helping herself up over the ruins with a cane. Behind her trailed Sasori and Gaara both, though Sasori kept pushing Gaara back behind his legs.

“You recognize it?” Yugito asked.

Chiyo sniffed, like the question was beneath her or somehow insulting. “Of course. Silver blood for the gods, black for the demons, red for humans, and gold for the Titians, it’s all very standard myth. We used to use the silver in unmaking rituals and I’m sure its what that man was hoping to use to control this dragon. Without someone to guide it through her, the ichor will consume your friend.”

“How do you purify it?” Yugito pressed.

“Please,” Choji added.

Chiyo grimaced, glancing down at the girl between them. Sakura was staring up at her with unblinking eyes that saw more than most.

“I suppose there was a reason I came all the way out here. Two types cancel each other. Sasori, help me find the stomach.”

The redhead glared over his shoulder a warning to Gaara before scampering off over the rubble to where the stomach of the dragon stood out.

Chiyo hobbled closer to Sakura and leaned down, matching her stare with one of her own. “Little girl, do you know the story of the Bread Boy?”

“Bread Peter?” Sakura echoed.

Chiyo chuckled. “Yes, you’ll be Peter.”

Sakura nodded, though Choji and Yugito both exchanged looks of mirrored confusion.

“I’ve got it, grandmother,” Sasori called out.

“Cut it open, just enough!” Chiyo yelled back. She then nodded to Choji and then pointed at Sakura. “Pick her up and help me get her there.”

Chiyo left them behind and started to hobble off with Gaara scampering to catch up.

Choji knelt down beside Sakura and gathered her into his arms, all too conscious of the fact that the robe he barely fit into was thin and she was warm. “What’s the story of Bread Peter?” he asked, folding her up and carrying her carefully, following where Yugito led.

“A family is without child and they despair. The one day the mother decides she will make a child out of dough. Some stories say gingerbread, others say cinnamon. She makes a child to bake and it emerges just another piece of food, she tries again. She makes a little boy figure and feeds it the blood of a goat she killed, then bakes it in the oven. Again, it fails to live. A third time she feeds it the blood of a swan and then sewed it up inside the swan before putting it in the oven. It emerges a walking talking child, no longer made of bread but beautiful and graceful as the swan it stole life from.Bread Peter does many amazing things along the way, like marries a lord’s daughter, and rules happily.”

“That’s it?” 

Sakura blinked and tried to shrug. “There are other details that aren’t nearly as interesting, but the baking inside the stomach of another creature is the detail your story teller is talking about.” She touched the silver in her arm. “I’ve already consumed the blood.”

Choji stopped, seeing the tear in the dragon’s stomach Sasori had cut. “They’re going to…bake you inside its gut?”

“How is that not going to kill you?” Yugito demanded, eyes flinty as she fit them over Chiyo’s face.

“The Bogatyr from your tapestries were all noble knights, weren’t they?” she asked, looking to Choji. “But did you ever ask where they came from, the first ones? How they could be so strong, so swift, so inhumanly powerful that they could take down monsters again and again and again and come home safe and unsoiled?”

“You did all that,” he said. “And you didn’t need any help from anyone.”

Sakura shut her eyes. “She’s a storyteller, she knows what she’s doing.”

Yugito bristled. “Like hell she does. Choji, don’t listen to her. We can take her back to camp and doctor there will be able to do something for her. This is superstition, not science.”

Sakura pushed against Choji and reached out with her legs to stand. She could barely manage that but she faced Yugito. The blonde tried Sakura’s name once more but Sakura just placed her hands on Yugito’s face and leaned in, touching her forehead against the other girl’s. 

“Yugito, I’m standing on the rumble a _Zmey_ made when it was woken by a god man who raised armies of the dead. Science lives in this world alone no longer, now we are in a time where my stories carry just as much weight. Let me do as I please.”

“What if you die?”

“I’m coming back. Don’t think anything will stop that.”

Yugito let Sakura go, but didn’t turn around to watch as the redhead helped lower her into a cut he made in the dragon’s side. Black ichor swelled up around her and Sakura almost gagged, but forced her eyes closed. Choji listened as Chiyo knelt down and spoke in hushed tones to Sakura. They were words he couldn’t understand, but they sounded like an incantation.

Sakura nodded and Chiyo pushed her down until the black blood swallowed up her head, then she pulled the flaps of skin together and Sasori helped her sew them together with the largest needle he’s ever seen someone use. The black thread held and he hated how he felt like he had just watched two strangers kill the girl he wanted to follow for the rest of his life.

Chiyo turned her cane around the pointed to something close to the heart, but just below. “That’ll do it.”

Sasori took out his gun and shot at the spot several times, chipping away the dead scales until there was skin and tissue.

Chiyo stepped back and so did Gaara.

Next time Sasori shot the fire lung exploded within the dragon’s body and the whole carcass went up in flames.

Yugito turned and screamed, running for Sakura, but Choji caught her and eased her down to her knees, holding her back from chasing the flames the lit up the last few minutes of night.

“They’re killing her,” Yugito sobbed into his arm. “Don’t let them do this. All I do is _lose_ her.”

Choji’s heart broke for her. He rocked Yugito back and forth, humming into her hair as she cried. “It’s going to be just fine, just fine, it’s going to be okay, okay. She’s going to be alright, alright.”

Choji closed his eyes and prayed he was telling the truth as the husk of the dragon’s body choked out the first rays of dawn’s light.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy the story has gotten to this point-the end of this chapter was one of the first scenes that came to me when I was dreaming up this story over a year ago. I love the idea of a female main character like Sakura being the be-all end-all badass sort of queen in any situation.   
> And while there are elements to this chapter I'm just not satisfied with, I'm content with publishing it after rewrites. Anyone familiar with the Witcher series might recognize my nod at The Trial of the Grasses that Witcher candidates go through in order to become Witchers. I really liked that idea and sort of jumped off of it with the story of Bread Peter and Sakura needing to get baked *snort* to become something new.
> 
> So, two more chapters to go and they're both much shorter than the last few have been... I might just smush them together during edits if I can't make them strong enough on their own. But this was the big bad climax and the last bit is just the falling action. :)
> 
> Thank you all so much for being along for the ride with me. I love this story so much and I'm so glad it's loved by others. It's the most honoring thing to hear. Thank you!


	21. The End...or is it

 

 

Karui offered Yugito another drink, and this time Yugito took it. They were in the princess’ tent, made more grand than anything left in the city with hanging electric lights and gold and brass incense burners wafting rich spices into the air. Karui didn’t wear her uniform, just a casual robe that betrayed the luxury she was still afforded even so far away from the city.

“I think it’s wise to accept. The world is growing smaller but no less wild,” Karui said, her voice a step above casual while still flirting with the regal tones she had been using on everyone else.

“I’m proud of my heritage, but I don’t need a uniform to remember that,” Yugito answered, drinking the spiced alcohol like she didn’t care it was strong enough to make her lips loose. She didn’t have anything to hide.

“It would be easier to earn the respect you deserve, and we’d be understanding to your... preferences.”

“A man can not serve two masters.”

Karui snickered. “You’re not a man, darling.”

Yugito drank deep and then replaced the ivory goblet back on the table. “I can’t pretend I won’t be helpful to you in the future, but I’ve already told you where my loyalty is tied up. Be thankful with that.”

“You think any of my cousins would heed your words so well?” Karui asked, and the words made Yugito stop. “Any one of them would have put you in chains to get what they wanted, heritage or no heritage. I can’t ignore what you did here.”

The blonde glanced over at Karui, once treated by the world as a staff captain, now promoted and revered as a promised princess. Her cousins were nervous for the momentum her victory would give her in reaching Prince Ay’s seat. It was only a Princedom, with no promise of kingship, so long as the land held to the hostage promise of their high king, but the Niebieski power was one far greater than that of most kingdoms and Karin was reaching for it.

“What do your cousins have that you don’t?” Yugito asked.

Karin leaned back in her seat and rocked the spiced wine in her ivory. “Nothing to compare to what I’ve seen here with my own two eyes.”

Yugito held onto her words, not wanting to say anything about Choji but knowing that even Choji’s power would pale in comparison to the value Karui saw in Sakura.

The whole town saw it, a maiden unburned by fire rising out of the ashes of a dead dragon’s husk with hair was white as lighting and eyes that burned with emerald fire. A saint remade in the corpse of a monster she killed, like a caterpillar broken down and remade in the husk of its own chrysalis, Sakura was not the same woman she was before undergoing Chiyo’s transformation.

People had fallen to their knees and wept and made the old signs in the air when Sakura emerged like something righteous from the burnt out belly of a fallen beast. Yugito had no heart to blame them for their foolish superstitions. Even she could admit that Sakura was something holy to behold, standing atop the ash anew, with the glow from both the god-ichor and the demon blood that had nearly consumed her weaker, human self.

Major Samui had forgiven all of Sakura’s debt and so set her free, but Karui wanted her own form of ownership with which she could use Sakura to gain more power.

‘ _You could be my champion in the world, doing what no other Niebieski citizen or solider has been able to do. Think of the lives you would save._ ’

Sakura hadn’t said much, only that she needed her rest. Both she and Choji slept for days while the rest of the army integrated themselves and started to support the reconstruction and repair of the town.

That's where Yugito stepped in to field off the vultures who gawked and dared for a sight of the godlike girl or her giant. It had been horrid business at first, but within the military camp they had their own measure of privacy. 

"Understand the situation I am in and see it from my point of view. I am no fool, Yugito."

"I never suspected you of being such, my princess."

“What is you want?” Karui asked.

“Nothing you could give me.” Yugito moved to leave but didn’t get far.

“Then what does Sakura want? You think she’ll be satisfied going home and rotting away as some shit shoveling farm hand? She’ll grow restless soon enough, all soldiers do, the ones with the hearts in them at least.”

“She’s not a solider.”

“ _Clearly_. I’ve never seen someone so ill suited to following orders, but that doesn’t mean she can’t do a princess a favor now and then. When she grows restless she’ll want someone to help her move, explore, and be as free as a blue jay in spring.”

Yugito swallowed as she thought back to Sakura, barely able to mask the hurt from being passed up for Shizune’s role, a role she wanted since her childhood. Yugito knew that Sakura wouldn’t flourish on those lands where she would always be second to her cousin. It had been the reason she went off to be a solider in the first place.

Even if Sakura lied and said she wanted settlement, Yugito _knew_ Sakura better than that. 

“I won’t be manipulated into saying, signing, or agreeing to anything,Major Karui,” Yugito said as she turned to face the princess. “But if she so chooses it, I’ll follow Sakura even if she decide to accept your generous offer. Regardless, I doubt she holds my council so highly.”

She pressed her heels together and bowed with her hands straight at her sides before turning back around and leaving out the way she came.

The camps were still busy, as some of the more decorated officers chose to remain in their tents instead of settling in the city where the burning husk of dragon still stunk in the air. With them, remained ample protection as well as a multitude of laymen and support staff.

Yugito maneuvered around all of them, plain dressed and out of uniform. No one recognized her and no one stopped to ask her anything or talk to her about the only thing everyone seemed interested in.She was just another blond girl in a crowd.

“It’s a trash thing to hear, 'ey? A real _Bogatyr_ would be sworn to the crown,” someone complained around the leather they set out to dry.

“You don’t know any of the stories then, there were plenty of roaming Bogatyr who did good all on their own without a king or prince telling them what to do,” another man said.

“But are they all magic in the stories?” a third boy asked, far younger than the two before him.

“Only the most interesting ones are, able to talk to birds or travel 7 leagues in a single step, stuff like that. Me ma was da one with the head for them stories but I can remember enough. I recon being untouched by flame qualifies.”

“But that’s not the issue, is it? What about loyalty and allegiance? What about lineage? Without that, a witch is a witch.”

“Ah, there are worse things to be in such a wild new world.”

Then there was laughter between the men, like it was a joke shared amongst them. 

The party of three returned to the tent chatting about the same hot topic Yugito heard everywhere she went. When she got close to her tent she got ready to tell whoever lingered outside to scram, but this time there was only one gawker.

“Gaara, was it?”

The small boy made a squeak like sound and spun on his heel, holding up his hands in front of his face. He lowered them when he saw who it was. “Oh, it’s you.”

Yugito nodded and then glanced behind him to her tent. “What were you doing? I told you I’d send Choji to you once he was well rested enough.”

“I-I know, I was just checking. Choji is sleeping again and I didn’t want to stay with Sasori.”

“He does seem like the type to be unpleasant,” Yugito admitted, unable to stay mad at the boy.

She didn’t normally get along so well with children, but Gaara was pleasant enough. It was hard not to find him charming.

“But you know that this is the first place he would come looking for you, and how often does he come looking for you?”

Gaara deflated at her words. “Always... Okay, I’ll try and come back later and see if Choji is better, and-and the other girl too. Chiyo said I should make friends with her.”

“I’m sure she’d like that. Sakura’s better with kids than I am.”

His cheeks turned red. “Hey, who are you calling a kid?”

Yugito forced her face into a mock of surprise and pointed behind Gaara comically. “Oh no, there’s that redheaded guy you were worried about. He’s coming over here.”

Gaara squeaked again and took off running.

Yugito snickered to herself and pushed back the flap to enter the tent she shared with Choji and Sakura. Both were still resting in their cots but at least Choji looked like he had turned a bit in his sleep. The water by his bedside was empty so Yugito refilled it and then turned to check in on Sakura.

Yugito brushed a strand of silver out of the sleeping girl’s face and kissed her eyelids, sighing when Sakura didn’t so much as stir. Her hair, her skin, even her heartbeat were all different. When Yugito listened she heard the slow beat of a heart that seemed barely alive. It worried her, but Chiyo claimed that was normal in most mystic half breeds who made peace with the magic inside them.

‘ _Sakura shouldn’t be thought of as human anymore. She’s more than that. She’s more magic than girl now_ ,’ the old woman cackled.

“Yugito, is that you?” Choji groggily called, turning over in bed and pushing himself up into a sitting position. His eyes were still shut but he reached for the water glass and drank it dry.

“You hungry?” Yugito asked, already moving to their stash of preserved foods. They had plenty of bread and dried meats but hot meals would have to come from the mess tent.

“Always,” Choji answered. “How long did I sleep this time?”

“Just the day. It’s not too bad. Here, I got pastries from when I went inside the walls earlier, but they might be a bit stale. Have some.”

Choji accepted the fritters filled with apple, marzipan, and apricot out of season, scarfing each one down without complaint. “You’re a saint,” he said between bites, making her grin.

From his seat in bed Choji stared across the way to where Sakura sleep, pretty as a picture and just as still. Yugito could see the fear in his expression too well.

“How is she?” he asked.

“Still asleep, but that’s not unexpected. Chiyo said it could take weeks and that we shouldn’t be surprised she sleeps through the first few days. But yeah, I checked, she’s just sleeping, don’t worry.”

“She looks so still.”

Yugito nodded. “I know, but she’s fine.”

Choji nodded and then started to pull out his bag of honeyed almonds from where he hid them under the pillows. “What did I miss while I was asleep?” he asked around a mouthful.

Yugito told him about her day, about the offer from Karui, about her visit into town, about Chiyo and Sasori lingering nearby on the promise that they wouldn’t leave until Sakura was up again. Sasori rubbed Yugito the wrong way, how he seemed to always be looking for Sakura or asking about her, and she didn’t mind saying so to Choji.

“He is sort of a jerk, I guess,” Choji admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He hated to speak ill of anyone, and Yugito knew that him admitting Sasori could be a jerk was a big deal. “But he has his motivations for things. He had to watch his grandmother reject him for something and choose a little kid. I’m sure that didn’t make him very happy.”

“He asks about Sakura too much.”

Choji quit rubbing his neck. “Isn’t that what everyone talks about in this camp?”

“Practically.”

Silence lapped for a few moments while Choji ate and Yugito watched.

“So,” Choji began, “what are you going to do when she wakes up? Where will you go?”

“That’s up to her. Sakura will likely go chasing down something dangerous on her own with no help from me, so I’ll tag along without pretending to know where we’re going. Honestly, I’d anticipate her taking Karui’s offer, just because it seems like less hassle for us travel wise.” She then nodded over his way. “What about you? Where are they moving you?”

Choji shrugged. “That’s up to them I guess. I could ask to go somewhere, like Shikamaru did, but I don’t know if they’d take my request seriously. I’m not very high up, after all. But, if they let me, I’d love to keep traveling with you. Shikamaru got promoted somewhere I can’t follow but…I think we did pretty good together as a team.” He pointed to himself then Yugito and Sakura.

“I’m not sure I’m prepared to share her with you,” Yugito said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Choji smiled and it was so disarming. “Sorry, I know you probably don’t want to hear this from me, but I can’t take it back now that I’ve said it to her. I’d like to follow her forever too.”

Yugito made a clicking sound of dismissal with her teeth and tongue. “Can’t you go and find some other woman to dedicate yourself to? _I’m_ already here.” 

Choji shrugged. “No, it has to be her, it can’t be anyone else.”

“Why?”

If her question surprised him, he didn’t let it show on his face. “I doubt you could even answer that. It just is. She’s the one my heart decided on. I didn’t expect anything, and I still don’t, but if it’s my life to live I want to live it with her. Do you understand?”

Yugito grunted. “Only too well.”

“I like you too, Yugito. I think I can see what Sakura sees in you.”

The blond started to color, but swallowed her embarrassment down and lifted her chin instead. “Don’t be silly.”

“You think that’s silly, but you’re so smart and brave and amazing. You didn’t hesitate at all when you thought Sakura was in danger. You’re fearless for your precious ones, and I tho-well, I thought we grew a little closer as we got to know each other. I think you’re quite admirable. You care for her so much. I don’t know if I could compete with you level of devotion.”

“You probably can’t.”

“I’m not the type that enjoys competition thought,” he admitted, flushing pink in the cheeks. “I don’t mind if I’m not first pick, I’d understand it if it came down between me and you, but…but you know what I feel so you should know I can’t just bow out or try less then my best here. I really-I-I want to follow Sakura forever, even if I lose.”

“Well I’m following her forever first.”

Choji shrugged. “I don’t mind that.”

Yugito narrowed her eyes and tried to find the crack in his lie, tried to see the secret in his words, but couldn’t manage it. Choji was too honest and forthright. It wasn’t in his nature to be deceptive and she had heard him try to lie before, he was terrible at it.

“I’m not standing aside for you,” Yugito tried again. “I’m the one who will be at her side.”

“Sakura is the only one who could banish me at this point, Yugito,” he said with a soft smile. “But it’s not a competition. She has two sides, doesn’t she?”

“You love her?” 

He nodded in affirmation. “Yeah, I do. I wouldn’t want to stay by her side for the rest of my life without that feeling I think.” He laughed. “I love her.”

Yugito nodded, feeling her nails in her arms. She felt like she was back under the scope of a far off god, waiting to die like the others around her, then mercifully spared. She felt wrong and unbalanced on her own two feet. When she spoke her voice was thin and light.

“But I loved her first. She’s mine,” she whispered. 

“I don’t doubt that. Your feelings for her are precious. I don’t want to break that, but like I said, I can’t stand aside, not even for you, my friend.”

“The feeling is mutual.” She let her arms drop to her sides, tension released. “But I guess I don’t need to step aside. Like you said, this isn’t a race or a competition, and I guess there are worse people that could be stuck on clinging to her side.”

His grin was almost wry. “You think so?”

Yugito sat on the edge of Sakura’s bed and folded her hands between her knees. “Sakura likes you, so I’ll tolerate you for now, but if you ever give me a reason to, I’ll not hesitate to remove you.”

“The same could be said for me,” Choji laughed, but then his smile shifted from something playful to serious, “I’ll be looking out for her too.”

Yugito couldn’t help it, she laughed, and then Choji did too. The pair of them together.

Later on, after dinner, Choji and Yugito pushed their cots together and sheltered Sakura between them as she slept.

They kept to the style a couple more days before Sakura woke up on her own.

-

And just like Yugito predicted, Sakura accepted Karui’s title for champion when she heard about the salary and freedom it came with. In addition to the material goods, Sakura had one more addendum to her contract before signing off.

“What did you ask for?” Yugito asked as they packed their things into their new cart together.

Sakura smiled into her shoulder. “You’ll guess soon enough.”

“Did you girls say you needed these tent pole in there or not?” Choji asked, hiking the tent poles up on his broad shoulder like they didn't weigh as much as they did. “We can eat after this, right?”

Sakura flushed and then laughed, and Yugito couldn’t help herself, but she laughed too.

“Hope you don’t mind sharing,” Sakura teased. “I thought you might have had your eye on him. What was it you said about tumbling a man then coming back to me?”

“Wha-what, me?!” Yugito sputtered.

Sakura rolled her shoulders. “You think it was a bad call?”

Yugito glanced back to where Choji waited with the tent poles and sighed. “I guess not. He can stay.”

Sakura grinned and leaned over to kiss Yugito’s cheek before skipping to help Choji load their goods into the cart. When he had set all his things down she kissed him on the cheek too. Yugito caught his eye and noticed they were both flushed the same exact color.

“I’m protecting her with my life for as long as I live, don’t worry,” he whispered.

Yugito nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

* * *

 

It was worst at night. During the day she could pretend things were still the same, but at night when everyone went down to sleep she stayed awake far longer than she should, listening to the creek of cricket legs five leagues away, or the wind disturbed by a stalking owl. Things she shouldn’t have been able to hear were as plain as it they were happening on the shell of her ear.

It was similar to how her eyesight had been enhanced, but instead of just one sense it was all of them. Magic ran like rivers through her now. She could dig her fingers into the soil and feel all the different textures that told her who and what had turned over the earth before her. She could smell the sweat on a deer’s hide as well as the death of a burrow mouse as it was pulled apart for some bird’s dinner. She couldn’t stand Choji’s sweets anymore and the mead that used to make her dizzy and smooth down the edges of her senses didn’t do the trick anymore.

Sakura picked herself up and stalked out of the tent, knowing she wouldn’t disturb either Choji or Yugito no matter how light they slept. It was their last night in camp before setting out to investigate a report Karui had taken from Major Samui’s stack. Their cart was loaded and in the morning they would be done as soon as dawn’s first light.

Sakura stepped outside the test and grimaced at the sounds of all the people doing as they pleased in the privacy of their tents, wishing she couldn’t hear what she heard. She pressed her thumbs into her ears and turned away, slipping into the forest where plenty of other things could distract her.

She stopped when she heard a heartbeat, picking it out of the other noises until it was the only one she could distinguish. When her eyesight went supersensitive Tsunade had taught her some tricks into channeling and focusing that still worked with her hearing. It would take time, but Sakura was confident she could manage the changes in her.

“Omoi,” she called.

She stepped out from between the trees and saw him hovering over the stream they used as their source of water while camped. He had several different water skins scattered around him. He looked up, heartbeat pitching at the sound of her voice before settling when he saw her. Sakura noticed that it didn’t return to normal, but stayed elevated as she drew closer. She didn’t mind it, knowing that even at night she was abnormal in her appearance enough to put people on edge.

“You’re awake,” he said, coughing to help his voice keep from quivering.

Sakura stopped a few paces away from him on the same side of the stream, careful to keep her distance. “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much once I’m done recovering. Chiyo said as much about new Bogatyr.”

“It would make sense. Um, I asked and found some stories. Apparently the Bogatyr could wrestle dragons for three days straight, or swim for seven days and seven nights without sinking, and that’s all scientifically impossible, but…”

Sakura tilted her head back and more of her starlight colored hair slipped off her shoulder. “But?” she echoed.

Omoi shrugged. “I don’t think her stories apply to you. You’re not a Bogatyr.”

Sakura felt the eyebrows on her face rise in surprise, even though it was a strange, detached motion. “How you figure that?”

“The stories of the Bogatyr are all political propaganda hogwash, that’s why.”

Sakura snickered. “Even after all this you still can’t believe?”

Omoi stood suddenly. “Not blindly, no. You ever study your stories critically? Have you ever asked why they were passed down and for who they were passed down to? A lot of the Bogatyr stories glorify an old empire and archaic ways of ruling. They speak of the same sort of blind loyalty that led thousands of men into their own graves.”

Sakura wanted to raise her own hackles at the accusation, because it was her heritage he insulted.The stories were the only thing she had on the darkest nights. He couldn’t call them simple manipulations from a higher political power.

“What do you know?”

He offered up his palms,waving them in front of his face. “Eh, I don’t mean to insult.”

“You fail.” 

“Listen to the rest then, hey! The Bogatyr were all knighted or appointed, they were all agents of the king at the time and you know who weren’t?”

She thought of the stories Tusnade didn’t tell as much. Her specialty were in thestories meant for children, but Chiyo seemed like the older sort of storyteller that kept all the old stories like some sort of hoarder. Still, Sakura learned them all.

“The Hex Mothers, the heathens, the vědmák and vědma….the cunning kin and the Knowing Ones.”

Omoi grinned. “Ah, you _did_ know. What is the difference between them and the Bogatyr?”

“Motivations. The vědmák and vědma threw the world into unbalance to serve their own ends, the cunning kin killed for pleasure and celebration, the hexers were hired magic muscle for anyone wicked enough with coin. The Bogatyr were good and kept order. The witches…they threw things into chaos.”

“Did they?”

Sakura felt like she was talking to a younger version of herself, questioning everything, doubting every detail of the story. That was the reason Tsunade didn’t pick her. That’s the reason she was overlooked. Shizune didn’t question the source of their stories. Shizune did everything perfectly.

“What are you really getting at Omoi?”

“I think, in this mad new world it’s going to be impossible to be a Bogatyr. The King is a hostage keeper and the land is split between princes, and arguably the strongest among them is our Prince Ay, but his inheritor isn’t decided and Karui is climbing that ladder. You serve her and maybe the history books will spin stories of your noble self, but what if she fails, or what if Niebieski folds under some other principality? Then you’re a witch.”

Sakura stalked across the distance and stood up to her full high, half an inch above Omoi, but it might have been miles for how he shrank away from her. In the darkness she knew her eyes were glowing with gold magic as the details bloomed in her sight, clear and then clearer.

“You’re really intimidating to talk to,” he laughed, heart hammering in his chest.

“You know I could thrash you before all this, so don’t waste anymore words.”

He swallowed and nodded, stepping backwards. “Don’t marry the idea of being something noble. I love her, but Karui isn’t the same as goodness, and I have no illusions about my own might. I never could compete with you, but…” He stoped slouching, forcing his back straight. “But I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself if I didn’t warn you now. You’ll be someone important and you need to be a _good_ sort of someone.”

He held out something and Sakura looked down to see a fragment of dragon scale in his palm. “I’ve been testing the materials left behind and it’s-”

“ _Dead_.”

“- _Barely_ an adolescent.”

Sakura huffed. “I could have told you that, it only had one head and the wings were not fully formed. They get bigger, you know. It’s how we got mountains.”

“Debatable,” Omoi sighed, glancing away like he was embarrassed by her beliefs. “But at least now I understand their physiology a bit better now. It’s such a new thing the Confluence brought on, but at this point no one can deny it. The world is different and no one else has as much _factual_ information on these creatures or….or creatures like you. All we have are superstitions and stories.”

Sakura rocked back on her heels, running one hand through her silver hair. “I’m classified as a creature now?”

He gestured at her face and hair. “You’re not human anymore.”

“Fine,” she admitted. “Then let me guess, you want to do what…? Study me?”

He blushed a pretty color in the dark. “For science.”

Sakura rolled her eyes, feeling more human in her frustration. “This is what you wanted you should have started with a, ‘hey, I think you’re interesting and I wanna study you for science,’ but instead I had to hear you lecture me on my stories and nonsense.”

Omoi colored a bit. “Is that a no?”

“I don’t care what you do.”

A smile started to stretch his face. “I can leave with you?”

Sakura waved a hand over her shoulder before moving past him, deeper into the forest along the path the stream cut. “We’re leaving first thing in the morning with Chiyo and her people. Tag along if your cousin will let you.”

“Wait, where are you going?” He was reaching down to gather up all the water skins left beside the water’s edge. One slipped under his arm and he struggled to juggle them all.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Omoi!” Sakura called back over her shoulder before following the water deeper and deeper into into the pockets of the forest where it was almost silent.

She didn’t answer him when he called out to her the second time, knowing he’d be there in the morning to talk to.

Deep and deeper between the trees until their bare branches were thick enough to choke out the moonlight, Sakura walked until it was almost too dark to see. The edges of everything still stood out to her, but she could no longer make out the color of things, so she figured that was dark enough.

Sakura pulled from her belt loop the broken end of her gun. I had snapped in the oddest of places during the fall. The metal barrel, and arguably the strongest part of the gun, had snapped at the point where the wooden support ended. None of her carvings were broken or missing, and the silver of the chamber still stayed stuck to the wood, but she bet that if she wiggled it free she could separate the two pieces.

Sakura sat on a rock and ran her hand over the carvings, missing each one and what they represented. They had once been silent things, but after emerging-

“You’re sad.”

Sakura hummed without turning around. Zetsu lumbered out from between the trees and knelt down next to her.The leaves under his hooves shifted as the skeletal body of a snake disturbed the earth, keeping itself under the foliage.

“I feel lost,” Sakura admitted to the spirit of the forest.

Zetsu leaned closer, making a sound that reminded her of the pained whine of a fox. She reached out with one hand to tangle her fingers in between the discarded feathers he wreathed his skeletal face in. He leaned into the touch.

“What he said... upset you.”

“Everything seems to upset me,” Sakura laughed. ”But it shouldn’t. He was right. I’m not noble born or even in any good standing. Barely pardoned and feared more than loved, that doesn’t sound like a kingly hero, does it? _Witch_ suits me better.”

“It is no insult if it is _you_ ,” urged Zetsu.

Sakura sighed and then lifted up her hand, feeling the weight of the world’s egg in her palm. It looked just as crude as when she carved it into her rifle, but she knew that didn’t matter. What mattered was what waited for her inside the egg.

 _'Little Maya inherited for herself an egg as pretty as pretty can be when her birth mother died and the rest of the family laughed at how little she received, but Maya was happy to have something from her mother to treasure. When her stepmother sent her to bed with no food again, Maya did not starve. When her stepmother sent her into town with no shoes Maya did not bleed. When her stepmother..._ '

Chiyo had warned her that the world would be overwhelming and her new status in it just as difficult to manage. The old woman doubted Sakura would be well enough to move for weeks, and maybe she was right. The world was too much and Sakura was trying her damnedest to keep up, but knew she would be no good to anyone until she had a better handle on her abilities.

“I need some more time,” Sakura breathed into the night, ignoring how her breath made a fog on her lips.

“Then take all the time you need,” Zetsu said, gesturing to the egg in her hand. “They’ll not know nor miss you for it.”

Between the trees a wolf as tall as a horse with fur ragged and bloody stalked, keeping Sakura in the periphery of its scarred eyes. Blood dripped from its maw, but there was no prey in sight.

A Boytar was strong, noble, and brave, but he wasn’t all magic like the vědma were. A Boytar was someone like Choji, a noble soul from blood to bone. He wasn’t gifted with the craft and couldn’t summon creatures out of icons like Hex Mothers could. Sakura wasn’t sure what she was or where she fit into the stories with her god ichor blood or dragon born body, but she knew she knew one thing at least…

In the morning she was leaving with Choji and Yugito and her place was there, between them.

“Very well,” Sakura spoke aloud, squeezing the world’s egg between her fingers.

It cracked and then shattered in her hand, spilling light and magic that ate her up and took her to a place of her own making for days and days, and then weeks and weeks. 

Until she was better.

_'...her stepmother was enraged with how her efforts to kill Maya kept failing. One night she locked Maya in the cellar with the rats and watched from a hole in the floor to see what would happen. Maya sat calmly and did nothing but stroke her favorite egg for days and days and nights and nights. At some points the stepmother thought she would see Maya break the egg, but then she would blink and the egg was whole again, and Maya was uninjured and fed looking._

_'When her father returned and saw what his wife had done he threw out the woman and both he and Maya lived in happiness together until she wed her own husband and passed on the egg to her daughter.'_

_'Where is the rest of the story, Baba?'_

_'That's it.'_

_'But the egg, the world's egg, what did it do? How did it happen like that?'_

_'You'l have to keep listening to hear what happens to it in the other stories if you want to know, Sakura.'_

_'Not fair!'_

_'Stories aren't always fair, just like life, but they sometimes teach us how to make it better. Listen and learn, my child. You will need these stories one day.'_

* * *

 In the morning when Choji and Yugito both woke, Sakura wasn’t there.

They found her on the cart’s steps, braiding twine between freshly calloused fingers. Behind her, hanging from a strap on her back, the remnants of her rifle and the half woven sheath to a sword stood out.

She caught them both with a smile. “ _Finally_ , it’s been _ages_ since I saw you two up. Ready to finally set out? Apparently, girls are going missing every week in Błyskawica. Up for it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess every major story that I finish is going to leave me feeling a little emotional and Confluence is no different. It's been a beast to write and wrestle down into a coherent story.  
> I had so many backstory subplots going on in my brain about the fall of religion in this world, the Hostage King and how the land got broken up, the causes for the different wars, the noble houses, the families from Sakura's home village, how Konahamaru had the world's biggest crush on Sakura and thought that one day he'd be old enough to marry her and then she'd be 'more important' than Shizune because that's what he thought would make her happy.... yeah, I had so many backstories still simmering in my brain and I can safely say I loved writing this story. I love how this story turned out. I love this story so much.
> 
> In my heart this is where the story needs to end, but my head still has those ideas about mini adventures Sakura goes out on along with Choji and Yugito. Like, sometimes they need Chiyo's insight and either she or Sasori assists because (in my head) Sasori has this massive crush on Sakura and sees her as someone who can understand his feelings on being looked over since Gaara is Chiyo's apprentice. Choji and Yugito do not like Sasori for this reason but Sakura's a bit more oblivious and just thinks everyone's swell.  
> I also had ideas on what it would be like if Choji ever took Sakura and Yugito to meet his folks and how that would go down.  
> But, all that to say, this is where the story gets tied up. 
> 
> This story has been a big part of my life, of my dreams, honestly, and I'm so thankful to see it through. Thank you all so much for being along for the ride with me. I love this story so much and I'm so glad it's loved by others. It's the most honoring thing to hear. Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> AN:So here is the first chapter of my RED KING knock-off, lol.
> 
> I wrote the first draft of this story earlier this year and it took me...months, to finish all 70K of it. I might have overthought some of it and worried too much about the plot of it, which is something I realized when I started rewrites and edits. But I did enjoy where this story took me. If you've seen my moodboard posts on tumblr you might have guessed that already.
> 
> Inspiration came from the game/books The Witcher, in that series there is an event called The Conjunction of Spheres that 'is a cataclysm which occurred 1,500 years before the events in the novels, trapping many "unnatural" creatures in this dimension, including ghouls, graveirs, and vampires.' I basically caught a 'what if plot bunny' from that and dreamed up an idea revolving around this thing called the Confluence of Stars where something similar happens-only in this world the magic leaves and has been leaving more and more each Confluence until no one believes in magic anymore. Then this happens...
> 
> Anyway, I won't get too deep into it. I've got more chapters getting cleaned up and those should be out shortly. I'd love to hear what you think in a review. Please and thank you. :)


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